Why do you Struggle?
by Spectre-the-Zombie
Summary: ((Vampire AU)) Satya Vaswani was feeling hungry. It began as it always did with an itch in her jaw, followed by a dull ache that grew and grew until it seemed as if every one of her teeth throbbed with a desperate, gnawing pang that she knew she needed to answer. It was time to hunt. ((In which Satya picks the worst possible candidate for a fledgling))
1. Chapter 1

_((Alright, so I'm just going to make a quick note first that this is basically a vampire AU, and will be quite different from my usual stuff. It's kind of a spur of the moment thing so I haven't planned it out or anything but I guess I just want to write about vampires for now, so that's what's gonna happen. Don't judge me too harshly.))_

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Satya Vaswani was feeling hungry. It began as it always did with an itch in her jaw, followed by a dull ache that grew and grew until it seemed as if every one of her teeth throbbed with a desperate, gnawing pang that she knew she needed to answer. It was time to hunt.

She drew no pleasure from the act. True, she knew many of her kind who reveled in such games, and even the frenzy itself, but to Satya it was an unsightly affair. It was messy, and primal, and savage, and the only joy she could wring from the whole business was to finally feel _right_. To feel her heart beating again for the first time in days, her body flushed with renewed vigor, senses bright and alert, to feel... alive. And ah, wasn't there a sweet irony in that?

It was a necessity, she told herself, nothing more. It could not be avoided. It was as vital to her as breathing was to a human, and perfectly as natural, what use was there to distain it? Satya attended to her hunger with perfect detachment. She fed, she was sated, and she moved on. It was a familiar routine.

Autumn had wrapped its cold fingers around the city, the air brisk with an early morning chill that seeped into the stonework and iridescent puddles along the street. Satya did not feel it. Her heels clicked sharply against the pavement, echoing and distorted down the deserted pathway.

When she hunted, she always chose quiet places. Convenience was one allure but in truth she always selected her hunting ground with a particular prey in mind, one that made these nights a little more satisfying by merit of accomplishment.

It had troubled her, early on, the question of her own peculiar place in this world, a purpose to her existence beyond the hunger that drove her. In the end she concluded that perhaps there was none. The world was a bleak and bitter place. However, if she was to reside in it then she would shape it as she pleased. It was all she could do. When she fed, she selected those she wished to remove from it - the worthless and the filthy, liars and cheats and murderers and lowlifes, all a stain upon her fair city...

By her own design they were cut neatly from the picture. With each feast she was rewarded with the knowledge that she had made the world a little cleaner, a little brighter, and while she took no pride in the grizzly business itself, that was some small gratification. And my, did she crave it...

Her nostrils flared, drinking in the scents drifting on the breeze - the smell of exhaust fumes and old cigarettes, the last dribble of alcohol in broken bottles, sweat and dirt and piss... filthy. An exquisite hunting ground indeed. She tasted the air again, searching for a more human scent.

There were many lingering aromas but she honed her senses as she picked through the fresher ones, sifting until she settled upon something that tickled her fancy. They had passed through recently, a faint trace of desperation and anger drifting in their wake.

Having selected her prey Satya followed the trail at a leisurely pace, unhurried. There was no need to rush things. She had every confidence she could catch up, and if her prey proved evasive there was more than enough time to find another suitable meal before dawn.

Drifting through the shadows she moved with an almost feline grace, ignoring anything but the hunt. She took no notice of the drunken vagabonds or other riff-raff that stumbled past, they were for another night, not worthy of her attentions for now, another distraction in this mess of a place...

Her prey was wandering far, however... far further than she had anticipated. Winding through twisting alleyways and narrow streets she followed, finding herself drawn to one of the more ramshackle districts, a poor collection of half-demolished or condemned housing and the abandoned attempts to rebuild. Ugly. She would have liked to strip it from the world entirely, but she knew that was not her place. A monster did not mend the world. All she could do was remove the dirt, a bit at a time, and take solace in the fact it was better than the alternative.

She paused, taking another sniff. Her prey was close now, she was sure of it, but the scent was mingled with others, two or three if she was not mistaken. That was troublesome. Satya had come this far, however, and she was not in the habit of giving up so easily.

Ducking through a hole in a wire fence she slipped into an empty yard, littered with rubble and discarded trash. Her shoes she was remorseful for, but she supposed she always needed to clean up after such events. Feeding was a messy occasion. Sordid, yet inescapably a part of her. Sometimes you simply had to contend with such things.

Suppressing a sigh she moved forward, drawn toward the bloated building and those who waited inside.

There was no door to speak of, just an empty hole where it must once have stood. The floorboards were coated with dust, and other residues she did not want to contemplate, and she stepped delicately inside, head cocked at an angle.

She could make out voices above. They drifted down, muffled and rough, but her keen ears could make out enough. Threats were being spewed, lewd words and curses from both parties, little thought behind them save the venom with which they were spat. She expected as much from the subjects she made her prey. It would make their end all the sweeter.

Taking care to tread silently she made her way further in, finding the stairs and swiftly ascending.

"Just tell us where you fuckin' hid it!"

"Sod off! Told ya before, I don't know what ya talkin' about."

"Course you do. You were happy enough to gloat about it earlier, only got tight lipped once we started askin' for details. No point lyin' now."

A high pitched laugh. "I got nothin' for ya."

"Stop being a little shit! Where did you hide it? Just tell us where it is and that's the end of it, yeah? No point making this worse for yourself."

"Ya lay another finger on me and Mako will-"

The sound of a fist hitting flesh cut off whatever he was about to say.

"Mako ain't here, it's just you and us here, and you owe us... so where did you hide it, huh?"

Spluttering, gasps. It seemed as if the man way trying to catch his breath.

Curious, Satya clung to the shadows, edging closer as she reached the landing. It was the first room that all the ruckus was coming from, covered in graffiti and whatever else previous visitors had tossed aside, and she peered in from the safety of the unlit corridor. Three men were there. One, on the ground, clutching his side. The others loomed, clearly the interrogators.

They were all straggly looking things, with worn clothing and an edge of hunger to them, though the man on the ground was thinnest of all. Perhaps it was his height that made it all the more apparent. There was a muscular tone to his lanky body, but his cheeks were gaunt and his wild blonde hair brittle and unwashed. It was all too easy to pick out the red marks on his skin, still too fresh to form bruises but surely painful nonetheless.

He managed to push himself upright, and one of the slightly heavier set men leaned down to grab the front of his shirt, hauling him up to eye level. "So, what's it gonna be?"

The blonde licked his lips, sniffed, and flicked his eyes up to glare at the man before promptly spitting in his face. "Eat shit."

This did inevitably not go down well. A sharp crack split the air as he was dealt another blow, dropped to the floor while the man wiped his face clean with his sleeve. "Wrong answer."

The interrogator rolled his shoulder, stretching out his arms for a moment as if gearing up for something. "Hold him still, Nico."

"Right-o," he other man said, more than happy to obey. The blonde did not put up much of a fight, seemingly too tired to bother, but he made a few half-hearted struggles for appearances sake. Once he was restrained the first man moved closer, and pulled out a knife.

The blonde's eyes shot wide. "Eh... lets not be hasty now, mates, haha..."

"You had your chance. You spat in the face of that chance."

"Alright, look, that was a tad rude of me, shouldn't a done that, ya got my sincerest apologies and all, but there's no need to be wavin' that thing around..." he said, grinning desperately.

"So you gonna tell us where you hid it?"

The silence dragged on.

"Hold his arm out, Nico."

"No, wait, hold on a tick! This isn't... this is all just a big misunderstanding, right? Just a big old... no no no don't-"

His legs scrabbled feebly against the ground for purchase but he couldn't pull free from the iron grip upon him as the knife swung down. It hit with a sickening, wet crunch as bone and flesh parted, punctuated by the man's screams. It took them a few more attempts before they were finally able to sever the thing. By then the air was thick with the metallic tang of blood.

Satya shivered. She had almost forgotten how hungry she was, but that smell was intoxicating... The ache of her jaw was almost painful, needy, her fangs threatening to slice her lip in their eagerness.

She drifted forward in a dreamlike haze, abandoning the darkness of the landing as she entered the room.

They did not notice her at first. They were preoccupied. It was only when she was a few feet away that they seemed to register her presence, turning with a look of confusion.

"Who the fuck are-"

But Satya did not care for what they had to say. The hunger was incessant, demanding, and nothing mattered except for the burning desire to finally answer its call. She sank her teeth into the first man's neck, ignoring his startled cry and piercing deeper. Hot blood ran over her tongue and she drank greedily, gorging herself, clutching him still as he struggled. Those struggles would grow weak, soon. She was too pent up to be delicate. Her fangs sharpened and she tore further in, letting the blood truly run, spilling over her lips and soaking her dress in a torrent. She hated this, and yet she longed for it, a primal urge there was no fighting.

Something hit her in the spine. Frowning, Satya released her prey for a moment, turning to discover a knife sticking from her back. How trite. She let the body of the first man crumple, reaching back to pull it free before tossing it aside carelessly. Then she turned her attention to the man's companion, smiling pleasantly at him. He trembled. Clearly reading the futility of the situation he held up both hands, backing away hurriedly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

But the hunger still drove her, so Satya closed the distance between them. She tore his throat and once more there was blood, rich and thick and sweet like nectar, and oh how she craved it, how starving she truly was...

She drank, and drank, and yet when she was done her body still demanded more. The room stank of blood, clogging her senses, leaving her feverish and shaking in the grips of frenzy. More, she needed more...

Turning to her last victim she found him still on the floor, cradling the stump of his arm to his chest and face locked into a grimace. Satya crouched beside him and his amber eyes flew open, staring and yet oddly hazy. "Who are... are ya here to save me?"

What a peculiar thing to ask. She took a gentle hold of him, pulling him closer until he rested against her. He seemed weak already, either from shock or blood loss, it didn't matter. He was just another meal. She pressed her lips to his neck, tasting the salt of his skin before she bit in, feeling him jerk against her. And then of all things... of all things he had the audacity to laugh.

"Oh, you're here to kill me... that makes more sense I guess..."

Satya closed her eyes, attempting to focus, but the stranger seemed entirely too talkative for a man about to die.

"Suppose that's fair... should thank you, maybe, wouldn't've been much use without the arm anyway... probably better like this... k-kinda thought those two ugly gits would be the last thing I saw, ya make a much better alternative... there's worse ways to go out than in the arms of a beautiful woman... who wouldn'a seen that one coming, ha... always imagined I'd end up in a gutter somewhere..."

His words were growing fainter, slower, his breathing coming in shallow gasps. When she pulled away to examine him though she found to her surprise that he was grinning. It was the dopiest expression she had seen in all her years, and quite how he maintained it she didn't know, but he clung to that smile like it was a lifeline. Satya scowled. A peculiar man indeed.

And yet... and yet she hesitated. _Why_ she didn't know. He was nothing, a nobody, another stain to be erased... but there was a fire in that gaze, in that grin, a spark she had not expected. There was something about him that made her inexplicably mournful to see him snuffed out so easily.

She refused to believe it was pity that drove her. Nothing so human, surely... but still, she found herself lowering him gently back to the ground with a thoughtful expression on her face.

She reached forward, brushing the hair from his forehead and trailing her fingers across the heated skin of his cheeks. He whimpered softly but made no complaint.

What was she thinking? In all her existence as she was, she'd never contemplated such a thing before... It was a complication, problematic, something she had no need to burden herself with.

The idea taunted her though. In the end, she told herself it was only curiosity that inspired her, for there was no other explanation she could conjure.

Lifting her wrist to her own mouth she ran her fangs against the skin, scoring a deep wound. Then she pressed it to the lips of the blonde, meeting his confused gaze. He blinked back at her and she smiled.

"Drink," she told him.


	2. Chapter 2

Jamison Fawkes always suspected he'd die in one fucked up way or another. Try as he might he'd never pictured this particular scenario.

As her sharp teeth bit into the flesh of his throat he gave a jolt, though he hadn't the strength to push her away. He was feeling woozy, barely registering the pain by that point, the agony of his arm was fading away as his vision fogged up. Probably for the best.

Unable to help himself Jamie laughed. It sounded odd even to his own ears, high-pitched and tinged with desperation. "Oh, you're here to kill me... that makes more sense I guess..."

He couldn't see her reaction. Maybe that was for the best too. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to find something to enjoy in those last few moments as he rested against her. And because he was _him_ , of course, he talked.

"Suppose that's fair... should thank you, maybe, wouldn't've been much use without the arm anyway... probably better like this... k-kinda thought those two ugly gits would be the last thing I saw, ya make a much better alternative... there's worse ways to go out than in the arms of a beautiful woman... who wouldn'a seen that one coming, ha... always imagined I'd end up in a gutter somewhere..."

Things were fading fast, the words tripping over his tongue and coming out haltingly in a near whisper as he gasped for breath. He tried to smile through it. _Could be worse_ , he told himself, _could be worse..._

It took him a moment to register the pressure at his neck abating. When he opened his eyes again he found he was lying on the floor and staring up at her, this monster. Damn she was a beauty. Maybe it was just blood-loss addling his brain but there was something entrancing about the woman. She had golden eyes and long silken hair, her skin dark but wan so that it appeared almost grey in the dim light, flecked scarlet with the remnants of her feast. Her expression was unreadable but she reached out toward his face.

He thought, in a moment's blind panic, that she had taken offense to his gaze and intended to tear his eyes out or something equally as cruel. When she touched him though she merely brushed the hair from his forehead, fingers lingering as they traced the contours of his cheek. Jamie whimpered.

Then the woman leaned away from him again.

Feeling dizzy Jamie tried to focus on breathing, ignoring the ringing of his ears and the throbbing of his wounds as he struggled to cling to something tangible. His vision was growing dark around the edges and he knew it wouldn't be long now. He wanted to hold on a little longer though. Just a little longer, to eek all he could from this miserable life... didn't want it to be over just yet, not really... just a little longer...

Something hot and wet pressed against his lips and he blinked in confusion, trying to solidify the sight before him. Shapes wobbled.

"Drink," a voice said, and it was smooth and rich and he found it quite soothing, a very lovely voice...

A sigh soon followed, and whatever was against his mouth pressed a little more firmly.

"You are dying," the voice informed him bluntly. "If you do not drink soon, you will not have the chance."

Well, he supposed it would be awfully sad to disappoint that voice. Weakly he sought to obey, parting his lips and letting the warm liquid trickle in.

"Drink."

He managed to swallow, adam's apple bobbing with the motion. It felt like molten fire trailing down his throat. He tried to pull away.

" _Drink_ ," the voice continued to insist.

Jamie whimpered again, but did as he was told. A strange warmth seemed to be flooding through him, so different from the numbness of before. He felt feverish. He felt sick and hungry all at the same time, and whatever he was drinking was so repulsive to him yet he found he was gulping it down with a newfound energy. He was thirsty. Why was he thirsty?

Then the thing at his mouth was pulled away, and he whined, reaching for it without quite understanding why.

"That's enough," the voice said, and it sounded gentle. Soft, like one might scold a child.

But he was still thirsty, a peculiar craving writhing within him. He reached out again but cool hands took ahold of his arms, guiding them back to his chest. They held them there until he gave up.

Shivering, Jamie tried to make sense of things. The world was spinning and the blood was pounding in his ears and he felt nauseous in a way he'd never experienced before, burning up and trembling uncontrollably. Was this death? Was this how he was going to go out?

Tender fingers stroked his hair, and he leant into the touch without meaning to, desperate for some kind of comfort.

"It will pass," the voice promised, and Jamie hoped that was true. He didn't know if he could carry on like this. Maybe death wouldn't be so bad after all. If it could wrench him from the jaws of this exquisite agony he was more than happy to let it take him, as bitter as he was to concede.

His breaths came short, sharp, little more than weak gasps as he choked on air. God it burned...

And then... and then he stopped. Jamison Fawkes died. He lay still, like a corpse, and gazed sightlessly ahead without so much as a final laugh.

Then he blinked. And blimey if he wasn't confused.

Uncertain quite how long he stayed like that, it finally occurred to him that he was apparently not quite as dead as he should have been, and he drew an experimental breath. Air flooded his lungs, but it felt strange. Breathing just didn't seem like such a pressing concern any more. That would have terrified him, except that, well, if he was still conscious so far then it couldn't be _that_ important, not breathing didn't appear to be causing him as much harm as was typical.

"There. The worst has passed," the voice said. Hands smoothed his hair back once more, then steadied him, helping him to sit. The world swam alarmingly and Jamie clung to them, fighting to keep his balance. Everything was strange. Sound was wrong, colours too bright in the gloom, vision flickering as it struggled to adjust.

He found himself in the arms of the monster, the woman, as she clasped his chin between her fingers and titled his head in a bid meet his gaze. She appeared to be studying him, ponderously, and Jamie stared back at a loss for what to do.

"Can you speak?" she inquired lightly.

Jamie continued to stare.

Her eyebrows dipped in a mild frown. "I suppose it takes a while to adjust. Still, I do not think I can leave you here, that would be terribly irresponsible of me."

It took him a while to process her words, still fumbling for some kind of control over his body.

"Where... where..." he tried, voice horse and worn. He could not complete the question, but the woman seemed pleased.

"I will take you somewhere safe for now, the rest I'm afraid I will have to work out later. I never intended..." she trailed off, lips drawn into a tight line. "Lets just say I am not in the habit of this. This was something of a whim."

"Oh," he said, because he couldn't think of anything else. He was still focused on her eyes, the lovely yellow warmth of them, quite unlike anything he had seen. Noticing his apparent daze she smiled slightly, waving a finger in front of him until he followed the movement.

"You will have to walk. I could carry you but it would make something of a spectacle, I would prefer to avoid such things," she said.

"Spectacle..." he echoed, trying to get used to how scratchy his voice felt. He reached up to feel his neck and immediately regretted it.

The woman drew away from him, leaving him to wobble slightly as she got to her feet. Then she bent down and offered him her hand, waiting with perfect patience as he glanced from her, to it, and back again. Finally able to put two and two together he stretched his own hand out, but realized, belatedly, that the hand he intended to reach with was missing. He scowled at the stump, equal parts baffled and betrayed. Thoughts were still proving slow to process.

Observing his confusion the woman took the initiative, clasping his other hand and pulling him up before he could contemplate it too long. He teetered, unsteady on his feet, but she was ready to support him.

"Come," she told him gently, slinging his arm across her shoulder and settling her own against his lower back. It was an awkward position given his height, but somehow she still moved with an absurd grace as she led him from the room.

Jamie felt like he was in a dream. Maybe the biggest trip of his life. None of this made a lick of sense, staggering along beside her with the world still wobbling before his eyes. Maybe he'd laugh this all off in the morning. Maybe he'd swear off the drugs, and the booze, probably everything else too. He'd split from the Junkers. If he could find a buyer for what he'd stolen then him and Mako would be set, no more small time jobs and shitty apartments, no more street fights and nights spent passed out on the curb... the high life... he'd be living the high life...

He giggled at the thought and the woman gave a sigh.

She somehow managed to keep him from tripping over his own feet on their journey and deposited him on her doorstep as she unlocked. Then he was guided inside, and after some consideration the woman decided to sit him on the couch. She stood back with her arms folded, regarding him critically.

"You are a mess," she said plainly, "but I haven't the time to deal with it now. Stay here."

Jamie didn't know what else he _could_ do. He had the lingering suspicion that there was something he _should_ be doing, something important, that there was something that should be troubling him, but he could not put his finger on it. He curled up on the couch, shivering.

Soon enough the patter of falling water sounded. He listened blearily, picturing the rain and trying to remember something that kept slipping his mind. Was he thirsty? Why was he thirsty?

When the woman returned she was clean and dressed in fresh clothes, not a speck of blood to be found, and smelling profusely of flowers. It was near overwhelming, and Jamie was surprised to find himself picking through the scents, which was odd because soap was just soap, wasn't it? Certainly he'd never cared one way or the other before.

She touched his shoulder, snagging his attention. "You will have to move. I am afraid I've only sealed up one room properly, so there is no other option for the moment. It would be a shame to see my efforts go to waste so soon."

It wasn't as if he had the strength to argue. She took him gently by the arm and led him to another room, a bedroom it would seem, and idled for a minute before she seemed to conclude there were few other options, and after a brief _tut_ helped him over to the bed. That probably should have excited him, but he hadn't the energy. He lay down on top of the covers and she nudged him over, making space for herself with an air of irritation.

The room was dark. The windows were blocked over, and even the door had a thick drape obscuring it. The place should have been pitch black, yet Jamie found that he could still make out shapes, could read the contours of the place - from the sharp angles of the furniture to the soft curve of the woman beside him. He shivered again.

Something was wrong. His head was spinning worse than ever and it felt as if everything was slowing down, grinding to a halt as he struggled to find the will to speak. He could feel his pulse, growing fainter and fainter, body falling limp. "Am I... dying?" he managed.

"In a manner of speaking." The woman rolled over, cupping his face in her hand as she turned him to look at her. "The dawn is approaching. This is perfectly natural, though I suppose it is unfamiliar to you... You are safe though, you have my promise. I would not let harm come to one of my own."

He tried to find some comfort in that statement, to take solace in the tenderness of her tone, but a spark of terror still squirmed inside his chest. It was frightening to feel himself slipping away like this, each moment beginning to bleed into the next as time slowed to a trickle and he found he was helpless to act. He barely felt the fingers that clasped his own.

"It's alright," the voice promised.

He managed to take a breath, words slurred. "Never... caught ya name..."

An amused hum came from somewhere distant. "Satya."

"Satya," he repeated with a final gasp, closing his eyes as the world slipped past. It was a nice name.


	3. Chapter 3

Nightfall always crept in slowly by Satya's estimation. She could feel it well before it arrived, a small prickle that reminded her of her own existence. If asked, she would say that she did not so much sleep during the day as she did imitate a corpse, as close to death as one could be. Her kind was always dormant during the sunlit hours. It was less of a choice as it was a natural part of their existence. As dawn arrived so would her own limbs grow heavy and cold, her heartbeat slowing and her breath stilling in her chest as her eyes glazed over. She never truly lost consciousness though.

It was difficult to explain.

The best description she could conjure was that time seemed to slow, until it felt as if she were moving through treacle, though in truth she was aware that it was her own mind and reactions that were slowing to a crawl and not the world itself. When night drew closer however, the reverse occurred.

She felt, quite distantly, a pulse in her chest. A heartbeat. Then, what seemed like an eternity later, another followed. With aching slowness the time between each one grew closer and closer together, and sound roared in her ears as the room swam back into focus. She could move. Leisurely at first, but movement nonetheless. It must have taken her five minutes to so much as sit up, but with each passing moment her body grew more steady, catching up with the world around it.

She glanced across at the man beside her. It would take him longer to gather himself, the process was unfamiliar to him and it would probably take him a while to realize control had returned to him once again. For now she was forced to consider his silent form and found that she was intensely irritated. With herself, mostly. What she had been thinking she had no clue, it was a ludicrous decision to make, not one she'd ever expected herself to trip into.

There were some vampires who enjoyed bringing others into the fold, perhaps for the companionship or more likely for the sensation of superiority it gave them, as they were both sire and mentor to the clueless fledglings. Satya, though, could view it as nothing but an inconvenience. There was no logical reason for her to burden herself with such a responsibility. She'd always detested the idea. And yet here she was, and more importantly there _he_ was, and Satya could not explain why she had done it.

Something about his grin. A desperate spark that had seemed so unusual that cold night...

Whatever the case, there was no undoing it. Satya was many things, but she was not one to shirk her duty. To cast him out onto the street would be ghastly, the least she could do was teach him enough to get by before turning him aside, that was common decency.

She let her gaze rove across him, over his freckled skin and the lean muscle beneath his tattered clothing. A straggly thing indeed. Dried blood still clung to much of his figure and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

It would have been preferable to clean him the night prior before permitting him in here, but there had not been much time before dawn and the thought of bullying her new fledgling into the shower and attempting to wash him was simply too much. He could attend to it himself when he was able.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, retrieving a comb from the side-table as she fell into her normal routine, brushing her long hair in languid strokes and teasing the knots out. She had almost forgotten the man until she heard him stir.

Satya waited calmly for him to adjust, to remember how to move his limbs and piece together enough of his surroundings to form some sort of conclusion. When he sat up she turned to face him.

He stared back at her and licked his lips nervously. "Uh... g'day... don't mean to be rude or nothin' but... what exactly happened?"

Well he was lucid, which was an improvement given his state the night before. Clearly he was adjusting fast, and that was a promising sign, though she has no prior experience save her own to go off of.

"What do you remember?"

He scrubbed a hand across his face as if to wipe away any lingering fatigue. "Eh, well, I know what I _think_ I remember, but what I think I remember is pretty fucked up so I ain't too sure if my memory's all that... reliable. Wouldn't be the first time."

She quirked one eyebrow up, unable to withhold a faint smile. "Is that so? Well, it should assure you to know that this time at least you may be correct. I turned you."

"Right, turned... turned as in..?" Why he thought there was any need to ask she had no idea, she simply watched him as he seemed to reach his own conclusion in the silence that followed. "As in... vampires? With like the fangs and all that? So that's real, I'm not just... finally losin' it or anythin'? You're a vampire? I'm a vampire? Like... actual bloody vampires?"

My, he did love to talk, didn't he? He had a thick accent too, unmistakably Australian and with a tone that dipped up and down seemingly at random. Talking was good, though, it meant he was thinking clearly.

A thought appeared to occur to him and his eyes widened. "Do I have fangs?"

She watched with amusement as he reached up to investigate, prodding at his jaw curiously.

"Not for now," she told him, before he could disappoint himself, "they are only necessary when we have to feed. It would be an inconvenience if they were there all the time."

"Oh, guess that makes sense... oh fuck, I still have a heartbeat. Is that normal? Is that a normal vampire thing? Should I be worried?"

Satya did not know what baffled her more, the ease and cheer at which he seemed to accept his fate or his complete cluelessness to every aspect she was totally familiar with. She settled on the latter, taking care to think over her response.

"No, we have a heartbeat, though it is typically slower than a human's. You will find that it slows to a stop during the day however, and if you have not fed for a while your body will know it. Your heart will slow further and you will turn cold, weak, and your teeth will ache as the craving sets in... After we have fed, that is a different matter. Then you will find your heartbeat picks up, warmth returning, energy flooding your veins. You will feel as close to alive as we can be anymore. It is... pleasant."

He nodded slowly as if digesting this information. Another thought seemed to occur to him and he snatched at his neck, feeling for a wound that was long gone. Frowning, he glanced down at his stump. His expression was rueful. "I suppose regrowing limbs is out of the question then, eh?"

Satya looked away, setting her comb down. "You would have had to have been turned before that was inflicted unfortunately. I am afraid I was a little late for that."

He shrugged. "Bit of a long shot."

Whether it didn't bother him or he was merely trying to keep up appearances she didn't know. She was reminded of that smile the night before, and how desperately he'd clung to it. A little uncertainly Satya held her own left arm out, tugging down the sleeve to reveal the artificial limb beneath. "There are alternatives."

"Crikey, that's..." He blinked, the words eluding him. He looked as if he dearly wanted to touch the thing but hovered just short of doing so. "Pretty swanky, some high-tech stuff there. Where'd ya get it?"

"Vishkar crafted it for me."

"Vishkar, huh? Think they could set me up with somethin' fancy too?"

"No," she snapped. It came out harsher than she had intended and she regretted it immediately. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know, he didn't understand.

She drew her sleeve back down, hiding it away as if in shame. This simply wouldn't do. Deciding to change the subject she forced herself to look back at him, ignoring the stunned look on his face. "What is your name? I quite forgot to ask."

"Oh... It's Jamison, or Jamie really I guess, whole thing's a bit posh for me. And you're Satya... ha, bit strange to be makin' introductions in the bedroom, even for-"

"Jamie then," she cut him off smoothly, having no interest in discovering where that particular line of thought was going. She stood up, brushing off her clothing though there was no dirt to be found upon it. "I turned you into this, and as such I owe you a duty. I will do my best to impart all the knowledge I can and protect you until such time as you are ready to find your own way. In return I expect you to abide by my rules and follow my orders. Is that agreeable?"

His pointy face looked bewildered, but slowly it transformed into a lopsided grin. "Sure. Got yourself a deal."

He thrust his hand forward to shake, and Satya regarded it coldly before deciding she might as well humor her poor fledgling, and delicately accepting his grasp. His grip was firm, hand easily engulfing her own, but far from the rough and enthusiastic shake she had been expecting he was surprisingly gentle. He released her and Satya folded her arms, not certain what she wanted to do with them.

"Good," she told him simply. "I suppose the first order of business will be to attend to the state of you."

"State of me?" he asked, sounding unsure. His fingers strayed to his wild blonde hair as if that might be the problem.

"You are filthy," Satya said. She set her hands on her hips. "I tolerated it this long for convenience's sake but I will not contend with such mess any longer than I must. You will shower and clean yourself up, and then you will collect yourself something better to wear. That is nonnegotiable."

Somewhat dazed he glanced down at himself, taking in the bloodstains across his shirt. He laughed. "Guess ya got a point there... glamorous lifestyle of a vampire, eh? Or _un_ -lifestyle, right?"

Oh god, he was going to be insufferable. Why had she done this? Suppressing a sigh she gestured to the door. "Shower. Now."

He seemed to take her meaning, shuffling off the bed and following her directions. At least he was reasonably obedient for now. All in all, that was the best she could hope for.


	4. Chapter 4

Jamie let the water sluice over him, closing his eyes and trying to focus. This was the strangest situation he'd ever found himself in, and exactly what he was supposed to do about it he didn't know. Part of him still clung to the thought that it might be a dream, but he could remember all too vividly the sharp teeth at his neck and the blood, the pain, the strange nausea... and when he opened his eyes to look down at his arm he was left with a stark reminder. The stump.

He turned his gaze away, reaching instead to lay his other hand on his chest, feeling the slow, almost methodical beat of his heart. It was strange. Strange too was the way he seemed quite unable to get pleasantly warm. He'd always run hot before, but now an ever present chill lingered despite the help of the shower, and although it wasn't exactly uncomfortable it was... unnerving.

Well... he guessed it beat being dead.

He found it hard to harbor any particular resentment toward the woman, Satya. Maybe he should have been terrified of her. She was a monster after all, and had changed him into something he still didn't fully understand, but she seemed kind. Stern, perhaps, but she treated him with a patience he would not have expected from someone who had killed with such vicious frenzy earlier. It was difficult to hate her. She wasn't hard on the eyes either.

And now... now for some reason he was in her house, or her shower to be more exact, and he didn't know what was expected of him. She had promised to teach him, to protect him... did that mean she wanted him to stay? How long for? And after that, then what? He just didn't know.

He tried to distract himself, reaching for the bottle of shampoo that sat on the shower rack, fumbling with it for a minute before it occurred to him to use his teeth to pop the cap. The scent that followed was overpowering.

Jamie reeled back, grimacing as he caught his balance. There was no way that shampoo should smell like that. Bloody ridiculous...

He found the strength to close the thing and set it back where it belonged. It was too much right now, he couldn't process that much all at once, he wasn't used to it. He regarded the bottle with a glare. Plain old water would have to suffice, wasn't like he'd ever been particularly worried about his general hygiene anyway. He'd gone weeks without a shower before. So long as the blood and sweat and dirt was washed away, that was all that mattered.

When he was satisfied he'd at least made an effort he turned the shower off and went to pick up his clothes. Satya had been right, they were filthy...

He made a half-hearted attempt to scrub his shirt under the sink, cleaning the worst of the blood off and tainting the water pink, but there was no saving it. The material was well and truly stained. He supposed he could pass it off as part of the design if he was lucky.

Pulling his now slightly damp clothes back on he emerged to find Satya. She was seated at the kitchen bench, flicking idly through a magazine filled with all sorts of fancy looking buildings.

He approached, sliding nervous fingers through his wet hair as he wondered how best to put this. "So, uh, guess I should go pick up some of me stuff then if that's what ya want? I mean... if ya don't want me to stay that's alright, I get it, but I kinda figured-"

"You will be staying with me," she said without looking up. "I would hardly trust you on your own so early."

"Think I'd kill some poor bugger?"

"Yes. That is not what concerns me though, humans are irrelevant. It is likely that your actions might draw unwanted attention and you could find yourself overwhelmed. It would be a shame to see you end so swiftly, it would make last night a waste."

A waste, eh? He didn't know what to make of that so he settled for grinning back at her. "Ha... fair enough. Right, I'll get some things..."

She closed the magazine and rose to stand.

Jamie watched her. "Ya wanna come with?"

"I believe I told you, I would hardly trust you on your own so early," she replied as if the matter were simple. He couldn't think of any compelling argument against it.

Shrugging his shoulders he made his way over to the door. Somehow she reached it before he could, and he was thrown a little by the suddenness of it, but she merely unlocked and opened it for him.

"Ta."

He stepped outside and she followed close at his heels, locking up behind him while Jamie took in the outside world. Though he had grown accustomed to the house he found the street was a different matter.

He was flooded instantaneously with a myriad of fresh scents, more powerful than they had any right to be, and he could hear the cars in the distance and footsteps and voices even though there was no one to be seen, and he found it impossible to believe it was night because the world seemed just so _bright_ and...

And he felt strangely giddy, struck with the desire to run forward like a child at play, finding new delight in his surroundings. He managed to curb his enthusiasm somewhat, though he couldn't help the spring in his step nor the grin that split across his face. This was an odd experience, but he quite enjoyed it. Every little detail seemed to be beckoning for his attention, demanding, intriguing, even simple things like the particular texture of a brick, which he knew he would have disregarded before.

Satya matched his pace, a flicker of amusement in her gaze. "Don't get too distracted."

"Course not... it's just..." He found he could not quite articulate the feeling.

"Different?" she suggested.

"Yeah," he said lamely, unable to supply anything better.

"You will get used to it. You may find it hard to focus for now but you will learn how to narrow your senses, it comes with practice. For the moment just try not to get lost. I'd rather make this quick if possible."

"No worries," Jamie assured her, finger-gunning back. She looked bemused.

Feeling suddenly awkward he stuck his hand in his pocket, fumbling for a moment before he remembered that the right one was still missing and unlikely to follow suit. His thick eyebrows drew together in a scowl, and he gave up on the idea, increasing his pace instead in an attempt to hide the blunder. Satya did not appear to care.

Despite his preoccupation he was able to find his way without much trouble, and he was pleased to discover that when he passed the first stranger on their way he was _not_ hit with a powerful urge to jump them and tear their throat out. He supposed Satya probably wouldn't have let him wander so blithely down the street if that were likely to be the case.

People were fascinating, though, in a way he was unused to. He'd never before taken an interest in the way they smelt, or the heat of them, the particular way they moved...

"I told you not to get distracted," she reminded him, and Jamie shot to attention, tearing his gaze away from the hapless folk they passed. He grinned sheepishly.

As they closed in on his home he felt a twinge of embarrassment, noting the obvious differences in the surroundings. It wasn't like it should surprise her, not given where she'd found him, but still... He might not know much about Satya but she struck him as a high class sort, with tailored clothing and a house with proper carpet and all that. In a dump like this she stood out. Felt a bit wrong, bringing her here.

"This is uh... this is where I've been staying, me and Mako I mean," he muttered eventually as they reached the block of flats beside a half-demolished building. The walls were plain concrete, stained with dirt and the various tags people had left to mark their passing. Some of the windows were boarded up. Others were missing.

"I know it ain't much, but the rent's next to nothin' and it beats squatting, that's for sure. Wasn't gonna be forever anyway... kinda thought I'd be ditchin' the place soon to be honest. Managed to steal somethin' proper, a real treasure... was gonna split it with him, fifty-fifty, then we'd be set..."

Satya arched one delicate eyebrow. "You are a thief?"

"Well... sometimes," he admitted, refusing to feel guilty. She was a monster, she _killed_ people, had probably intended to kill him too if it wasn't for a strange change of heart. Nicking a few things here and there was nothing by comparison. "Look, have to get by one way or another, right? Needed the money. Always just took whatever jobs came my way. Sometimes people wanted me to get somethin' for 'em, sometimes they wanted me to make somethin', never cared one way or the other so long as I got paid. That's just the way of things."

"I see," she said. "And this Mako... would he be here now?"

The question shocked him for a moment, and he rocked back on his heels. "I... dunno... shit, he's probably still wonderin' what happened to me... he'd know I wouldn't just cut and leave, not without sayin' anythin' first... fuck, what do I tell him?"

"You tell him nothing. Either he is not there and you may take your stuff and leave, or we silence him."

"S-silence?" he choked out.

"Yes. It's inconvenient to keep ties to your old life, better to sever them now if possible."

He stared at her uncomprehendingly. "Nah, but... this is Mako we're talkin' about..."

"And?"

"Well... we're mates... he's me _best_ mate, trust the bastard with my life, would be dead a thousand times by now if it weren't for him... There's no point in hurtin' him, he wouldn't say nothin' if he found out the truth, he's honest like that. Proper reliable bloke."

Satya, though, did still not appear convinced. "So you are just friends?"

"Uh..." Jamie floundered for a second. "Yeah? Not sayin' we didn't fool around once or twice, but it weren't serious, neither of us were after that and he ain't really my type anyway, but... but he's never let me down, ya know? He looked out for me... ain't a lot of folk who do that..."

"Hmmmm," Satya mused. She was thinking, he could tell, and he fidgeted from foot to foot anxiously as he waited for her to speak. She couldn't honestly expect him to hurt Mako, could she? Didn't she understand? Didn't she have friends? _Or... or what if she didn't_ , he thought with a pang. She was clearly living alone and he'd seen no sign of visitors, human or otherwise, and she'd mentioned no one in the time he'd known her...

Come to think of it, he had no idea how long she'd been a vampire, or what her life might have been like before, he hadn't thought to ask. Had she had to leave behind a family? Friends? Lovers?

He was struck by a sudden torrent of questions he hadn't the bravery to ask.

"Ideally," she said after what felt like an age, "you would cut him neatly from your life. That would be the safest course of action for both of you. However... if you wish to remain in contact that is your risk to take, so long as you involve no others of our kind. I would only ask that you hold off making such a decision until later, when you are more adjusted to this existence. For now, avoiding him would be for the best if you cannot bring yourself to end things in a more permanent fashion."

He took a shaky breath, nodding. "Yep, absolutely nothin' permanent."

She seemed to accept this. "Very well. If you can show me to the door at least I will be able to tell if the place is empty. If it is not then we can return later."

"Yeah... yeah alright." Listlessly he managed to set his legs in motion, entering the block and beginning the climb to the third floor. As usual there was trash strewn out on the steps but he paid it no mind. He was still thinking mournfully of Mako, and the fact that he probably wasn't going to see the big lug for a while. He'd miss him.

When he finally announced they had arrived, and gestured to the battered door, Satya leant close to it for a moment, frozen as if listening. Eventually she pulled away. "It's empty."

"Thank fuck," Jamie said, fishing the key out from its normal hiding place. He struggled, a little, taking longer than he would have liked with only one hand to work with, but he was able to wrangle the lock into submission and kick the door open. It swung wide, shrieking on its hinges before it hit the wall and Jamie giggled, surprised by his strength. The door was pretty flimsy but he was sure it didn't normally do that.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Smells a bit worse than I remember." He held his arms out, spinning in a slow circle as he stepped inside. Truth be told, despite his grin he was a little ashamed - remembering the clean white rooms of Satya's house it was painfully apparent how much of a dump his own place was by contrast. He tuned back to her. "Do I have to invite ya in? Is that a vampire thing?"

Her lips quirked up slightly in what he was beginning to recognize as a small smile and she shook her head. "No, that is not necessary."

She stepped over the threshold, eyes drifting across over the living room. There was a sunken couch and chair, with a coffee table propped up with old phonebooks, but the rest of the contents of the place was mostly clutter. Empty bottles and mugs sat on every available surface, a pack of cards scattered and forgotten, bits of wire and scrap he'd managed to scavenge lying in unsorted piles... he'd even left a spare tire propped up by the window. Not exactly the kind of place that would impress a gal.

"Sorry... promise I won't make ya stay long, I'll just grab a few things."

He hurried to do just that, finding a backpack and tipping its contents out onto the floor as he scrambled to find what he should take. Clothes were important, she'd said as much, so he made that his first priority. There was enough strewn about his room to gather up. They were scruffy, and could probably do with a wash, but he figured if they weren't stained with blood then they'd do.

Once that was out of the way he dug out a few other items. Tools, materials, a couple of half finished projects... he didn't have much in the way of keepsakes. Maybe that was for the best.

He guessed it made moving on easier, when you hadn't much to leave behind.

Satya was waiting for him in the living room. She had picked up one of the playing cards and was studying it with an unreadable expression, but she glanced up when he returned. Her eyes settled on him, and she paused for a moment, looking as if she wanted to speak. "You really lived here?"

He readjusted the weight of the backpack, scratching at the back of his neck. "Yeah..."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"That you had to live here. It does not seem pleasant."

He looked away, uncertain how to respond. "Ha, well... it weren't all bad... there are worse places... least I wasn't alone. Gonna be strange just leaving... was nice, havin' Mako around, he was a good mate... don't much like being alone..."

She set the card down on the coffee table and stepped toward him, and much to his surprise she reached up to clasp his face in her hand, tilting it toward her. He had not expected her to touch him so possessively, so boldly, but he supposed it was not the first time. His memories were a pinch hazy but he could recall some of the night before, of how she had handled him then.

Her golden gaze was locked with his and there was no mistaking the fierceness of it. "You are not alone. I would not leave you to suffer through this, do not think me so cruel."

Jamie swallowed, fingers tightening around the strap of his backpack. "Uh... thanks?"

Satya released him as if nothing had happened. "If you have everything you need then we should be going," she said smoothly, "it would be unfortunate if Mako were to return while you were here."

He blinked, still trying to process the incident properly. "Yeah," he agreed slowly, with one final look around the room. "Yeah, lets go."


	5. Chapter 5

There were few things Satya detested more than mess, and _that_ the apartment had in abundance. Such a state of disorder was truly distressing, and the smell... it reeked of gasoline, chemicals, burnt fabrics and stale sweat... how one endured this she did not know.

Her fledgling on the other hand seemed more or less at home. He scurried to gather his things, and Satya was left to contemplate how to feel about the whole scenario.

By rights, she should not be here. By rights she should have simply killed him. And yet she had not.

Why though... why she still could not puzzle. She'd never mourned the loss of her victims, they were chosen precisely because the world had no need for them. What made him different?

He wasn't anything special to look at, muscular perhaps but far too thin and tall, almost a scarecrow of a man. The ragged nature of his attire only encouraged the idea.

He was a thief, had admitted as much boldly. He was the sort of person she had no trouble removing. Yet something about him had inexplicably caught her interest, and now she could no more undo what she had chosen than she could walk in the sun. Whatever happened, he was _hers_ , and for better or for worse she would care for her straggly fledgling. That was the only answer she could find.

It was this thought that compelled her to act as she did, she simply moved on instinct, and when she had him in her grasp she told him that he was not alone. He looked stunned. Confused. He probably was, none of this was his making, she'd dragged him into it and now he stumbled along with no choice but to follow her lead. Perhaps it was cruel...

She released him.

He was strangely quiet on the way back, though his eyes still had a habit of flickering to every new distraction. Satya thought it rude to disturb him. She was more than accustomed to filling the silence with her own thoughts and it made a nice change to fall back to that.

When they arrived back at her house though some of his previous energy seemed to return. Talking was apparently a habit of his, and regardless of how he might be feeling he prattled on quite happily about nothing in particular as Satya attempted to finish her magazine.

If this was to continue she would need to find some way to occupy him. A hunt might be one way, but she had fed quite thoroughly the night before and did not have any real hunger. Jamie himself seemed to be doing well, so he couldn't be suffering any need yet, though she suspected his appetite would pique sooner than her own. The matter could be postponed.

Other activities were harder to envision. She had no real idea if things that appealed to her would be anything but a bore for him – he certainly had a short attention span. Letting him out to wander by himself so early was out of the question. What then? Television? She'd never cared for it save for the occasional documentary, but it seemed loud and obnoxious enough that it might appeal to him.

"So, uh, do ya mind if I ask ya a question?"

Satya stalled her train of thought, glancing up.

Jamie had settled on the couch with one leg resting across his knee and the fingers of his left hand tapping at his ankle. He looked restless, but she was beginning to fancy that was not unusual for him. He smiled at her. "Just one?"

Resisting the urge to smirk she casually flicked another page. "You just asked two."

A moment of silence followed, punctuated by a sharp bark of laughter. "Ya got me there! For real though, there's somethin' I've been wonderin'..."

"What?"

Agitated, he fiddled with the leg of his jeans for a moment, reluctant to meet her gaze. "Why did ya do it?"

"Do what?"

"Turn me, I mean. I figure ya must have had some reason for doin' it, I'm just kinda... kinda wondering-"

"Ask me something else," she said coldly.

He froze, a curious expression racing across his face before he composed himself. Then he nodded, as if it were nothing, and leaned back further on the couch to stare up at the ceiling while he pondered what might be safe to say. "Alright, so... what do ya do all night? I mean... do ya have a job? A vampire job?"

Satya gave him a haughty look. "Vampire job?"

He shifted again, flashing a grin at her. "Well sure, can't exactly picture ya workin' down at the corner store or whatever but ya have a house and stuff, so..."

"I do commission work, sometimes, as an architect," she told him.

"At night?"

"My hours are somewhat limited, as I'm sure you are aware. I mostly work on forming designs, creating blueprints and that sort of thing. The actual construction I leave to others."

He appeared to like this idea, flopping down onto his side, and then his back, as he considered it. His legs dangled awkwardly off the edge of the couch.

"Hmmmm," he mused, "the midnight architect... has a ring to it, don't it?"

Satya was unsure if she should feel amused or irritated by the whole display. "I find that if you develop a good enough reputation people are surprisingly tolerant of the eccentricities of a recluse. I earn enough to make my life easy, and more than that it is a pleasant hobby, a way to pass the time. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"More vampire questions?"

"If that is what interests you."

He sat up again, scratching at his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's one thing..."

"Which would be?"

He pursed his lips. "Alright, so, I gotta ask..." he said, and his tone was deathly serious as he leant forward. "Do vampires shit?"

He was quite impossible. Satya had to lift a hand to hide her smile.

" _What_? It's a serious question!" he insisted.

"If you waited long enough you could have worked that out for yourself."

Jamie squinted at her. "So... is that a yes?"

"That is a no," she clarified, still fighting down her smile. "On occasion, however, we... regurgitate old blood. It is a similar function."

"Sounds fun," he said waggishly. There were plenty more questions he had to ask though, and Satya bore them with a mixture of bemusement and carefully contained laughter.

No, garlic was not troublesome. Yes, they had a reflection, and a shadow too for that matter. No, they could not turn into bats, nor mist, nor anything equally as dramatic. Yes, human food would make him sick. Yes, a stake through the heart was normally not a good thing, although it wasn't the only way to kill them...

She supposed his curiosity would save her time in the long run.

Television, it turned out, was not a bad idea after all. There was nothing on so late save for the shopping channel and other such drivel, but Jamie was easily captivated when she introduced him to it and so Satya was pleased with the arrangement. Maybe it was a more enchanting experience than normal, given his change in perspective, she wouldn't know – she'd never laid eyes on one as a human. Whatever the case it gave her the chance to attend to her own business without worrying too much about him, and she enjoyed the space that granted her.

Closer to dawn she was forced to contemplate other matters. The only spare room she had was her study, and not only was she loath to give him free reign of it but she also did not have the supplies to properly block it up and prevent the sunlight from entering. That meant Jamie would be sharing her room again. It was that or leave him to fry.

After some thought she went through one of the cupboards, gathering a pile of bedding and laying it out on the floor. She took her time with it, arranging everything neatly until she was satisfied.

When she called him in he seemed to understand that dawn must be on its way, but he paused when he entered the room, staring at the pile of bedding she had so lovingly laid out.

"What's this?"

"That is where you will be sleeping," she informed him.

He glanced from her to the blankets once more with an air of puzzlement. "Thought we shared the bed."

"This is my bed. You shall not be sleeping in my bed, you shall sleep on the floor." She folded her arms to signal that that was the end of the matter, but Jamie did not appear satisfied.

"Well," he reasoned, with a grin that was far too sly for her liking, "far as I can tell we don't so much sleep as we turn dead."

True, but hardly the point.

"Very well," she conceded. "You may be dead on the floor."

He pouted, a comical expression but he seemed to accept her law, albeit begrudgingly. He kicked at the blankets she had laid out, sighing as he lowered himself down and slumped across them. She'd almost forgotten how ludicrously tall he was, but his feet stuck out obstinately. It could not be particularly comfortable but she supposed that wouldn't matter soon. It was difficult to feel troubled by such things when imitating a corpse.

Ensuring that the door was closed firmly and the heavy curtain covered any gaps she returned to her own bed, climbing on and lying down with her hands clasped across her middle, examining the ceiling as she waited.

She could feel it, a prickle she'd learned to detect long ago, the faint trace of drowsiness as the sun slithered over the horizon.

"Satya?" The voice was quiet, hesitant even.

For an instance she considered ignoring him. "Yes?"

"Are ya... are ya sure I have to stay down here?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I believe I explained that this is my bed."

"Yeah, ya did, and I get that, it's just..." he trailed off, sounding meek. "I don't like it."

"The floor?" she asked dryly.

"Nah, the... the way it feels, ya know? How like... everythin' is just fadin' out, like you're dyin' for real... that."

Peculiar of her fledgling to turn so pitiful. Satya closed her eyes, trying to think back to her earlier days, the first few dawns she'd had to endure and how frightening it had been until the sensation became familiar. It was so long ago, distant, almost like a dream. She sighed.

"Alright, you may come here, but just this once," she said.

He crawled clumsily onto the bed, limbs already becoming slow as dawn rushed closer, and he sprawled out beside her with a weak grin. Those amber eyes were turning dull, the strength draining out of him but she had enough of her own strength to reach across and gently take his hand in hers. It was a small reassurance that he barely seemed to register.

She supposed that was the best she could give, really, something she owed him – the promise that he was not alone in this... For there was nothing quite so terrible as that.

* * *

(( _So, uh, if any of you are enjoying this and want to leave a review/comment or whatever, I'd be really curious to know what you think so far..._ ))


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie did not like the experience dawn brought with it. It was a sickening sensation, and there was something naturally terrifying about feeling the world slow to a stop and being helpless to act.

Maybe he shouldn't have cared. Maybe it shouldn't have bothered him. He'd been sure enough that he was going to die not so long ago when Satya sank her teeth into him, and he'd accepted that fate, had been ready to grin through it...

Yet he had not died that night, or not really, and now he was forced to endure this feeling again and again, probably for as long as he existed... it was a very sobering and very frightening possibility.

He hadn't meant to ask her, not actually, but when she agreed it was relief that swelled in his chest.

Somehow it didn't seem quite so bad when she was there next to him.

His limbs grew heavy, the cold seeped in, his heart stumbled to a crawl, and each second, and minute, and hour bled together far beyond his reach. It was as eternal as it was momentary. He could not think, he could not move, all he could cling to was the vague notion of his own existence without even the awareness to long for an end.

Then the night came crashing back, and it was like gears slowly spinning into motion. As his senses returned to him the first thing Jamie noticed was that Satya was still holding his hand.

He stared at it, not quite comprehending, but he could feel her fingers intertwined with his own and as he lay there collecting himself it also occurred to him that she was probably conscious as well. Yet she had not pulled away...

A little nervously he dared to meet her gaze. Her eyes were unreadable, but they were watching him.

Jamie managed a smile. "Hey, do ya mind if I ask another question?"

"That would depend on what you plan on asking," she told him.

He lay there for a minute, face scrunched up as he grappled for something she might be willing to indulge. "How long have ya been like this? A vampire I mean."

That seemed to leave her taken aback. Her eyes narrowed, but he guessed it was only in concentration because she glanced up at the ceiling and when she spoke her voice was perfectly level. "A long time. Over a century. Not long enough to be ancient, but long enough to watch the world shift and wonder what place I hold in it."

"I dunno, sound pretty ancient to me," he teased.

Immediately she released his hand, sitting up. "Why must you be like this?"

"Like what? I was just curious is all. Tell me where you're from, tell me what it was like back then! Here I am lyin' in ya bed and I know next to nothin' about ya, can ya blame a bloke for wonderin'?"

She sighed, turning her back to him as she took her comb from the side-table and began to brush her hair. Evidently ignoring him was some form of punishment.

Jamie huffed. When it became clear that she had no intention of re-sparking the conversation he sat up himself, frowning.

He could observe her like this, each languid stroke of the comb made with perfect rhythm. Could be it was just a routine, since her hair did not seem messy in the least to him and there was no way she could have tangled it during the day anyhow. Perhaps she enjoyed the normalcy of it – getting out of bed and brushing your hair... the same as always...

Shit, he had no clue.

"Uh, look," Jamie said hesitantly, "I'm sorry. Don't always think too hard about what I say, kinda just slips out sometimes."

"So I have noticed," she replied.

"If it's any consolation ya don't look too ancient... shit, no, that's just me makin' things worse... I mean it, though, the other stuff... I _am_ curious about ya. If it ain't somethin' ya wanna talk about though that's fine, we all got secrets. Just... sorry if I caused offense."

The comb stilled. "I suppose I should be more tolerant, all things considered. I am simply... ill accustomed to this."

"Ill accustomed, huh? That mean I'm ya first? Never turned anyone before me?"

"You are the first," she agreed, setting the comb delicately back on the side-table.

Jamie wasn't sure why, but the thought pleased him. He let out a happy giggle, flopping back down on the bed and grinning up. "Guess that makes this a new experience for the both of us."

"Indeed." She stood up, turning to regard him critically. "And something of a trying experience at that. You should shower – properly this time. You still smell like burt hair."

Jamie took a moment to sniff himself and found that she was right. He still pretended to look confused. "Wot? Nah, that's just my natural manly musk. Had a proper shower yesterday."

"You are aware that my senses are just as keen as your own? I am no fool. Shower, and use soap this time. You may not like it but I would much prefer you smelt of that rather than... whatever it is you smell of right now."

"Ya serious?"

She set a hand on her hip. "I believe our agreement was that you would follow my orders, was it not?"

Jamie pulled a sulky expression, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah... just didn't think it would involve so much bloody washin'..."

Soap and shampoo, as it turned out, was just as overwhelming as it had been the night before. It took a great deal of willpower to eventually cajole himself into using it, and once he had he discovered to his dismay that the smell clung to him and he could not escape it. He was struck with the desire to find something else to mask it with, maybe dig through the supplies he'd managed to bring with him and select whatever was least likely to burn his skin off. Heck, he just wanted something that was familiar and didn't reek so fucking strongly of flowers...

But... but he was pretty sure Satya would not be impressed with him. He suspected she must somehow like the scent of soaps and stuff, or at the very least have acclimatized herself to it, because now that Jamie thought about it that was the only smell he'd ever picked off of her.

It was weird, realizing he was thinking so particularly about how someone smelt. _A vampire thing_ , he told himself, _totally not a creepy thing_. It was hardly _his_ fault his senses were so heightened.

When he finally emerged Satya was waiting. She had changed her outfit in the time he was busy and looked as elegant as ever in a sleek black and red dress, matching earrings and everything. She took a quick sniff. "Better."

"Feel like a fuckin' bouquet," he grumbled, but at least she seemed pleased.

"Put your shoes on, we're going out."

"We are?" he asked, immediately brightening at the prospect. He'd never much enjoyed staying cooped up for long, so the fact she seemed to have no intention of keeping him indoors all night was welcome. He itched to be moving, to be outside again, with all the sounds and smells and sights...

Satya smiled, clearly detecting his enthusiasm. "Yes, there is something I wish to teach you."

That gave him pause. He tried to puzzle any hidden meaning in her words, watching her suspiciously. "Teach me as in... ya don't mean, uh... like... mealtime?"

"Not tonight," she assured him, and he felt a twinge of relief. "I fed quite well recently and you don't appear to be exhibiting any signs of the hunger yet, so there would be no need to hunt. There is something else, an ability you could do with practicing."

He grinned. "This is the part where ya tell me we can fly, right?"

She regarded him scornfully, but Jamie was learning to recognize the lingering amusement in her eyes. "No, I am afraid not, nothing so fanciful."

He gave a theatrical sigh, shoulders slumped as if in defeat. "Can't turn into a bat, can't fly - seems like all the fun stuff's off the table."

"I never said it would be all fun and games," she said. "Now, hurry up, I do not like to be kept waiting."

Two minutes later and they were off, Jamie all but bouncing down the street while Satya moved with far more dignity. He still felt a great deal of fascination with the world and grew easily distracted, but as they made their way to the more central city streets she pulled him aside.

"I need you to try something. It should come fairly instinctively, from what I recall, but it would be a reassurance to know you can manage it."

"Uh, sure, just fill me in on what exactly I'm doin'?"

"I think of it as... shadowing, though I am not sure precisely how it works," she said, and it clearly chafed her to admit as much. "Though we cannot turn invisible we are able to... avoid notice, if we please. Humans will glance over you and pay you no mind if you do not draw attention. It allows us a great deal of freedom, especially when it comes to hunting, so it is important."

He absorbed this information. "And how do I do it?"

"Focus. Think of yourself as a shadow, fade into the background, move like water..."

He smiled at her dreamily. "Now ain't that poetic?"

Her expression snapped to something more stern and she folded her arms. "I am trying to explain. As I said before, it is more instinctive than anything."

"Right-o," Jamie said, not wanting to offend her.

"Try it. I would like for you to practice here for a while. Try to move down the street, follow people if you choose, but draw as little attention as you are able to."

"Just... just like that?"

"You will get the hang of it soon enough, but not if you stand here asking useless questions. Go on, I will be watching."

Cautiously Jamie took a step, glancing back at Satya and she nodded in encouragement. He nodded in return, squaring his shoulders and turning to the task.

What, precisely, she expected he didn't know, but he tried to think very firmly about shadows and other sneaky things, traipsing his way past closed stores, and take aways, and bars, and finding it very easy to become wrapped up in the distraction of it all. There were so many details he felt he had missed all his life it was like a completely new place, and it was early enough in the night that people still milled about and they, too, were fascinating.

He didn't understand the appeal, but somehow they were different than he remembered. Before people were nothing – unless he knew them or they were smoking hot he couldn't give a toss one way or the other, but now... he was reminded of the way he had watched ants as a child. It was peculiarly interesting to watch them move, to observe them going about their lives and feeling like a spectator...

In his absentmindedness he quite forgot what it was he was meant to be doing, and thusly his first attempt was abysmal. Satya was not to be dissuaded though. She sent him off again, and Jamie struggled to focus himself this time.

With a little effort, he felt something begin to click. It was all about reminding yourself that you were a spectator, really, somehow distant. If he did that, then he fell into a natural rhythm. He found he could trail quite close to people without them appearing to care, and in a way it was thrilling, he could make a game of it.

Each time he came back to her Satya would offer him some token praise before sending him off again, and he tried to do it just right in a vain attempt to please her, but she always seemed to think there was something he could do a little better. As the night wore on he soon grew bored with the sport, growing increasingly inattentive. He had a hard time concentrating still and he'd never been much good at it to begin with. Inevitably, he fell back on old habits.

Difficult not to notice a fat man with an even fatter wallet. While pickpocketing was hardly his forte, Jamison Fawkes was nothing if not an opportunist, and his progress in the art of stealth had left him bold. If the fool had the nerve to leave his wallet in his back pocket so enticingly, who was he to argue with the strings of fate?

He slipped closer, greedy fingers itching forward.

Suddenly a hand clamped down on his arm and he was yanked away, all but dragged down the nearest alleyway. Shaken and more than a little confused, Jamie found himself shoved against the wall. Satya looked... pissed.

He attempted a disarming smile but there was no soothing the fury in her gaze.

"What were you doing?" she all but spat.

"Uhhh..." Jamie struggled, aware that he'd probably fucked up somewhere along the line but entirely uncertain as to how. "Nothin'?"

"I am not a fool. You were going to rob that man," she said.

Oh, _that_. He grinned, and despite himself his tone was teasing. "Ya can't prove it."

This was evidently the wrong thing to say. Her eyes narrowed to pinpricks and she pushed forward until she had him pinned, leaning in closer, and Jamie had to admit that when she was glaring like that she was actually bloody scary. "I do not need to, I saw perfectly well what you were up to!"

"Well, yeah, alright... kinda just... couldn't help it," he said hurriedly, holding up his single hand as if to pacify her. "I mean, where's the harm though? Wasn't like I was gonna kill him or anythin', I mean... ya can't tell me there's anythin' wrong with it given the stuff _you_ get up to... no offense."

"That is not the problem," she snapped. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she fought to steady herself. "When you said you were a thief you claimed you did whatever you had to get by. Yet you had no need to rob that man. You were going to do so simply because you _could_ , and I do not appreciate that mentality."

Jamie watched her for a moment with a great deal of caution.

"Still don't see what the harm is," he muttered.

Her eyes shot open.

"The harm? Listen, Jamie..." she said, and her grip settled on his shoulder, digging in fiercely, "we are stronger than humans, we are faster than humans, we have keener senses and abilities... but you must never let that make you grow arrogant. There are far more of them than us, and during the day we are completely helpless. Do you understand what I am telling you? If they were to find us while the sun was up there would be nothing we could do, not a thing... We kill because we must kill, and I feel no guilt for that, but to think yourself too mighty will only be your downfall. Curb it now."

His gaze danced evasively, unwilling to settle on her. "Wasn't like I was gonna get caught..."

Satya's lips tightened. She released him, stepping away and turning her back to him as he caught his balance. When she spoke, her voice was low with warning. "You will not do it again, is that clear? Do not act simply because the opportunity is there, _think_."

Nervously Jamie rubbed at his shoulder, daring to study her now that she wasn't staring him right in the face. From her posture alone he could tell she was still angry. Livid, even. _Why_ he still didn't fully understand, it made no sense to him that she would react so strongly to such a petty thing... yet she had, and even if he couldn't grasp the reasons behind it he supposed there was only one decent thing to do.

"Alright..." he said, trying to sound soft, apologetic, "ya got my word. I'm sorry, yeah?"

She stood still for a spell, ridged in the silence that followed. Then, what felt like an eternity later she gave a small, sharp nod. "Good. We're going home."

* * *

(( _Shoutout to PrefrostedCake for dropping a line, I appreciate it._ ))


	7. Chapter 7

Satya did not remember the last time she had been so furious. Decades ago, perhaps. It was an unpleasant feeling and not one she had been prepared for. There were too many memories though, and fears, and it felt in that second as if she might lose him and that thought was inexplicably terrifying. Why should she care if he was reckless? Why should it matter to her if the fool chose a path to inevitable downfall? She had only known him a few short nights, he was a whim, nothing more...

Yet Satya did care, and she was angry. Was it an overreaction? Maybe, but she was not as immune to the impulse of emotions as she might wish. He had disappointed her in a way she had not expected and her temper had been tested.

Jamie remained somber for the trip back to her house, and she left him to stew in his own thoughts. Better that than scold him further. Besides, silence seemed as good a punishment as any for him.

Back at home he moped, and Satya found _that_ irritated her more than his normal chatter.

When he disappeared she was almost grateful.

He drifted out of the bathroom several minutes later looking dazed, and dragging his feet, which was enough for her to break the silence. "What is it?"

He looked embarrassed. "So I eh... thew up in the sink?"

Satya sighed. It was bound to happen sooner or later. "Perfectly normal," she assured him.

"Oh, okay... so, that's... that's gonna be a regular experience then? Alrighy..."

"You get used to it."

Listlessly Jamie wandered the living room, seemingly unsure where to put himself. She supposed she should feel more pity for her fledgling, but frankly her anger was still simmering somewhere below the surface and she was not in the mood to contend with him, nor any of his theatrics.

"Entertain yourself for a while, I have work to do," she said, retreating to the solitude of her study.

There, at least, she was not forced to endure the sight of him, and that helped to settle her.

Here it was only the delicate lines of her craft as she shaped the designs, taking pleasure in the precision, of each perfect angle drawn exactly as she intended it. She could envision how the structure would look clearly. It was almost tangible in her minds eye.

Satya had loved architecture since her youth – something about it had always appealed to her. The meticulous nature of it perhaps, how each calculation must fit soundly together, and yet the maths became a spectacle that left its signature firmly on the world.

To look at a building, to know every inch of it, and to know that your work would stand for centuries to come... well, she liked that very much.

It was fortunate that her skills matched her enthusiasm, elsewise it would have been a difficult craft to pursue given her lifestyle. Thankfully, her designs were well sought after, and she normally had a commission or two from a wealthy client in progress. It gave her something to do, something to enjoy.

Anger soon mellowed, lulled by the calm of her work. It was peaceful. Soothing. Geometry always made perfect sense, no complications, no surprises.

Satya was unsure precisely how long she lost herself in it, but she judged it to be several hours before she was satisfied, and it occurred to her that it might be a good idea to check that Jamie hadn't done anything rash out of sheer boredom.

Anticipating the worst she left the sanctuary of her study, checking the living room first. She did not know what she had expected, but it was not what she found.

He sat hunched on the floor, surrounded by an assortment of tools and scrap metal with which he seemed to be fiddling with intently. Though the lack of a hand was evidently a challenge he was using his feet to hold his work steady, gangly limbs folded into a comical pose that could not be comfortable. His tongue was stuck between his teeth, face screwed up in concentration.

Satya stared for a moment. He looked... he looked happy. Deeply absorbed, but contented in a way that was achingly familiar.

She lingered there, not sure she wanted to intrude, but something must have given her away because he paused, tilting his head to glance up at her. His expression was uncertain.

"What are you making?" she inquired politely.

"Ha, well..." he began, setting down an unrecognizable tool and scratching at his head. When he continued it was fast, the words running in a stream. "Had a lot of time to think, and I was thinkin' it's a pain tryin' to build stuff with one arm, so then I thought... why not make another, right? Not really my specialty, I know, and there's no way it'll be anythin' fancy like your own, but... I think I'm makin' progress. Got the basics nailed down anyhow... probably need some new parts to finish it, mind, didn't have much to work with but... yeah..."

He grinned awkwardly at her, but the expression was hopeful.

Satya looked from him to the half-finished construction still clasped by his feet. While she was hardly an expert in such matters there was a degree of craftsmanship to be found. It was ugly, and cobbled together from mismatch parts, but thought had been put into the design, into how each piece was fitted together, and she had to admit it appeared that he knew what he was doing.

That left her with some strange feelings. Surprise, but also pride...

"I did not know you were so..."

"Clever?" he asked with a laugh. "Yep, I get that a lot. Gotta have some tricks up your sleeve though, am I right? Always had a bit of a nack for it, just kinda... makes sense I guess. Mechanics, chemicals... I was pretty much the go-to bloke for anythin' like that. Probably the only reason the Junkers put up with me so long."

"More than just a simple thief it would appear. I'm afraid I cannot have you making a mess in here however."

His enthusiasm dimmed, grin slipping slowly from his face.

"Don't look at me like that," Satya told him, "pick up your work and follow me."

Misery flipped to confusion, followed by suspicion, then curiosity, then wariness. Jamie finally seemed to settle on the last emotion, but he scrabbled to obey nonetheless, muttering to himself as he struggled to scoop everything up.

Once he'd more or less gathered his things she went to the back of the house, checking intermittently to make sure he was following. Here she unlocked a door she had not touched in over a year. Intrigued, Jamie attempted to peer over her shoulder, but she simply pushed it open and stood aside to invite him through. He hesitated.

"Go on," Satya urged him, waiting patiently.

Cautiously he did as he was told, stepping through and onto the concrete floor beyond.

"Oh," he said, sounding astonished. "You have a garage."

"I do," Satya confirmed, "not that I have ever had any use for it."

To be entirely honest she'd always detested the place, it did not fit with the crisp aesthetic of the rest of her home and she had never kept enough clutter to need the storage space. For a while, she had considered attempting to renovate it into something more appealing, but contractors were difficult to acquire given her schedule and she did not like inviting humans so close to the place she lay helpless during the day. In the end, she'd elected to leave it shut and ignore its existence.

It was cold, and empty, and dusty, and exactly as she remembered it, but Jamie seemed to share none of her distaste.

"In any case, if you wish to build things you may do so in here, but not in the house," she told him.

"Really?"

"Yes, do what you please with it," she said.

He broke into a broad grin, spinning about as if to admire his new playground before he turned back to her. "Thanks..." he said, in a tone she had not heard before, "never had a proper garage before."

Satya glanced away, surprised by the earnestness of his gratitude. "Think nothing of it."

He appeared quite happy to dash around, setting out his tools in what he thought were appropriate places and pausing every now and again as if trying to envision something, perhaps more equipment he could fill it with or projects he was scheming.

Satya wondered, briefly, if she should look at blocking the place up properly so he might rest here during the day, but the thought of leaving him alone on the cold concrete floor was unpleasant, and she discarded the idea. For now it was merely a space for him to entertain his hobby without distracting her. It was a sensible arrangement.

Jamie spent most of the rest of the night tinkering away on the skeleton of his mechanical arm, leaving only when she called him back as the morning approached. She sent him immediately to wash his hands (or hand, she supposed) before he was permitted into her room.

When he wandered in he stopped just inside the doorway, glancing from the floor to the bed, and then back at her. Satya raised her eyebrows.

His expression was hopeful, and quite how he did it she wasn't sure but she felt her resolve crumpling.

"Very well, but just once more," she said, leaving him to scamper gleefully onto the bed as she went to securing the room. Once she was satisfied, she returned, making room for herself next to him.

He was resting on his side, angled to face her, and he was studying her attentively.

"Hey, Satya, can I ask another question?"

A small smile tweaked at her lips. "You ask a lot of questions, but go on, if you are quick."

"Are... are ya still mad at me?"

She pondered this for a moment. Most of the anger from earlier had dulled, but she would be lying if she said she could forget the incident. "A little, I suppose. But you have apologized and promised not to do it again so I believe I can forgive you."

Tentatively he stretched his hand out, offering it to her. Satya regarded it thoughtfully. Then she reached across to clasp it, having just enough time to catch his grin before the dawn rushed over them both.


	8. Chapter 8

When night revived him Jamie was content to simply lie there for another minute, with the pleasant knowledge that, for the second time, Satya had chosen not to pull away. She still clasped his hand lightly. Why, he wasn't entirely sure, but it was a nice discovery.

"You look paler tonight," she said absently.

Jamie blinked, flicking his gaze to meet her own. "Do I? Is that... a bad thing? Am I sick? Do vampires get sick?"

She looked vaguely amused. "Not as such, it means that your hunger will be rising soon," she informed him. "You will probably also begin to feel colder, among other things, there are a few symptoms. I expected that you would experience it sooner than myself, I only gave you a bit of my blood, hardly a feast."

"Oh," he said. He frowned. "So does that mean I'll have to... ya know..."

She seemed to understand what he was trying to say. "Kill someone? Yes, that is unavoidable, a part of what we are. The sooner you accept that the better. Will it be a problem?"

Jamie thought for a moment. It was a daunting prospect. He had no illusions about himself, he'd never been much of an upstanding bloke at any point in his life, but there was a difference between shady business and outright murder. He'd never really pictured himself as the type. Then again, he'd never really pictured himself getting turned into a vampire, so it was a bit of a moot point...

"Well... I dunno," he admitted. "Ain't gonna lie, don't like the idea all that much, but... like I told ya, I always did whatever it took to get by... done some pretty shitty things in my time... guess this is just like that, except now I gotta chomp on a few necks. If there's no alternative I don't got much choice, do I?"

Satya smiled. "I'm glad that you understand," she said, gently releasing his hand before she sat up, reaching for her comb as she fell into her usual routine.

Jamie rolled onto his back, but he had no real desire to get up just yet. His mind was drawn to the night he had met her, sorting through his hazy memories, piece by piece, and the carnage it had entailed. He'd been a tad distracted by the sudden loss of his arm at the time but he'd seen enough. It had been a slaughter more than anything. She had moved with a vicious grace, ripping and tearing, all but bathed in blood, seemingly more a monster than a woman. He remembered, too, the feel of her teeth against his neck.

He tried to imagine himself in her place, slicing into the throat of another and lapping at the blood...

It was an unsettling idea.

"When ya say soon," he found himself asking, "how soon is soon?"

Satya set her comb aside and turned back to him. Then she reached across, and, to his surprise, pressed a hand to his chest. Jamie froze.

He had not been expecting the move. He was still growing used to the casual way she touched him sometimes, as if he belonged to her, and whether she meant anything by it at all. Maybe it was just a vampire thing. Maybe it was just a Satya thing. He didn't know.

"Hmmm," she said eventually, "your heart has slowed but not considerably. You could probably last another night or two if you wished, but it would be best to attend to it sooner. It is ill advised to leave the hunger unanswered, especially when you are unaccustomed to it."

"Right..."

"I can help you to hunt later tonight, but for now it is still early. There is no point in rushing things," she said, and her hand left his chest as she moved away, slipping off the bed. She departed the room, and he heard the sound of water pattering a minute later. Loved her showers, that one.

Finally sitting up he dragged his fingers through his own untidy hair, trying to decide what to do. In the end he returned to the garage.

He tinkered with the arm he had been building for a while, but after a couple of hours he was forced to admit there was not a lot more he could do. He just didn't have the parts to finish the thing. Jamie was used to finding ways of substituting based on what he had at hand, but even with his ability to salvage parts from any form of scrap, he hadn't been able to bring much with him and he doubted Satya would be pleased if he ransacked her house in search of appliances to strip. He'd need to collect some more materials. Probably wasn't a smart idea to go back to Mako's place, so a trip to the scrapyard perhaps? Had to be somewhere he could get to despite the late hour.

He pondered this, continuing to make minor adjustments to his work though it was simply to occupy himself. There was something distracting him however, an itch in his jaw...

It was a peculiar sensation. A cross between the dull pain of an old wound, and the ache of... well, more pleasant things. It was very much distracting, and the worst part... the worst part was that he suspected he knew what it meant. Satya was right, his hunger was rising.

He shivered, setting the screwdriver he'd been holding down.

This was fucked up, but he guessed that was just the way of the world. Hawks ate rabbits, cats ate mice, a predator did what they had to survive... Yet rabbits and mice didn't talk, didn't have mortgages or drinking buddies or birthday parties or... or...

Shit, he'd though he was okay with this. Maybe he was being optimistic. But... like he had told Satya... what choice did he have?

It was around midnight when she announced that it was time to go. With less enthusiasm than was typical he followed, a nervousness to his step.

"It is your first time so I will make this easy for you," she said as they walked. "I will find you a suitable victim, all you must do is satisfy your need."

"Suitable, huh?"

"Yes. I find that if people must be removed from this world it is better to chose those who are of no benefit to it – those who shall not be missed. Killers, thieves, drug dealers, those who are unnecessary."

"Unnecessary? Ya mean like me?" he asked wryly.

Her pace faltered slightly, and she seemed unsure how to answer. Jamie supposed it was a cruel jab to make. He shrugged.

"It's alright, I get what ya mean," he said, "might as well pick off the criminals, kinda like a vampire vigilante I guess."

The idea appeared to offend her. "I am no vigilante. I merely satisfy a need in the most sensible way possible."

"Yeah, whatever," he said. He wasn't about to argue with her.

She led the way, quickly traveling to the poorer districts, and when she began to shadow Jamie did his best to imitate her. Satya appeared wrapped in her task. She sniffed the chilled air every now and again, choosing paths with apparent intent, picking her way down dingy side-streets and narrow alleyways. It was here, in the gloom between the sides of high brick-walls far from the city lights, that she found their prey.

Lounging at the corner, where the alley twisted deeper into the dark, was a man in a black beanie and a baggy coat. He was a dealer – Jamie could smell that immediately, but he probably would have known from intuition alone, wasn't like he was unfamiliar with the whole business.

"Him," Satya said softly.

He nodded, trying to portray a confidence he didn't really feel.

Satya glided closer to the man, and he seemed entirely oblivious until she was mere feet away. By the time he noticed her it was too late. She seized him firmly in her arms, hand covering his mouth to smother his startled cry and held him still as he began to panic. He struggled wildly, but Satya was more than strong enough to restrain him. The sheer contrast of power was striking. It almost looked like a parent stilling the petty tantrum of a child rather than the life or death fight that it was.

"Go on," Satya urged him, tilting the man's head to the side so that his neck sat exposed.

Jamie's teeth were aching, long and sharp, and his eyes were drawn to the bare skin, to the pulse he could see beating frantically beneath... Still, he hesitated.

Satya watched him. When he made no move she sighed, and reached up to run one long nail across the man's throat, scoring a shallow cut. Blood welled. Jamie trembled.

The smell was overpowering, intoxicating, and that gnawing pang surged fiercer than ever within him as he stared at the thin line of red. He'd never felt so compelled before. He'd never felt so helpless. But all he could think of was that smell, how sweet it was, how it called to him, drawing him closer...

He didn't even feel himself shift forward, he was just there, and the man's skin was salty and hot and when he bit in blood spilled across his tongue and he'd never tasted anything so divine.

He wasn't just hungry, he was ravenous, _starving_... All that mattered was to rip, to tear, to _drink and drink and drink_ until he was drowning. He lost himself in it. Let it consume him.

When Jamie finally came back to himself he was kneeling on the ground, curled over the lifeless figure in his arms. His face felt wet. His shirt was soaked. Yet he felt inexplicably warm for the first time in days, and his heart was hammering away in his chest, and there was an edge to the world as if suddenly sharper than before...

It felt right. And at the same time it felt so very wrong.

A gentle hand reached up to wipe his cheek, tenderly, and he looked across to see Satya crouched beside him. "It is an intense experience."

"Y-yeah... that's one way of puttin' it..." he murmured, still dazed. He looked down at the corpse he held, and after brief consideration carefully lowered it to the ground.

"It is a necessary part of what we are," Satya told him, "there is no alternative. I do not even think it is only the blood that we drain, as much as the life it holds. We do so because it is what we are, and there is no need to feel guilty for your own nature."

"I know," Jamie said, though the words felt oddly hollow.

He wavered for a moment, then lifted his hand across the dead man's face, closing his vacant eyes. "Sorry mate, it was nothin' personal. Ya would'a done the same in my shoes."

That was the best apology he could offer.

Standing up he sighed, looking to Satya for guidance. "What now? Do we gotta... hide the evidence or somethin'?"

"No need," she said, rising to her own feet, "the sun will take care of it. It burns our victims as surely as it would us. I cannot say I understand why, but it is convenient."

"So..."

"So we go home," she told him firmly, "and clean up. And the hunger will not trouble you for a while."

Slowly Jamie found the will to nod. "Yeah..." he agreed, trying his best to smile. "Don't suppose... don't suppose we can make a detour? Need a few more bits and pieces to finish the arm, was hopin' to get it done soon... Would be a bloody good distraction, truth be told."

She smiled back reassuringly. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

* * *

(( _Bit of a gory chapter this time I'm afraid, but you know, vampires will be vampires..._ ))


	9. Chapter 9

Jamie had done well. He had not looked pleased with the situation, but he seemed to accept the necessity of it in his own way, and that was enough. Those who could not never lasted long. Satya would have been saddened were that the case.

While she would have much preferred to go home immediately and send him to clean himself up she supposed there was no harm in rewarding him.

She tried to think back... who was the first person she had killed? What had it felt like? It was a long time ago, and she did not like to reminisce about the early nights of her existence. She owed him some sympathy, at least.

The distraction appeared to do him good. He talked about the stuff he collected, about the pieces he could use, and Satya didn't know if he was talking to her or himself, but the chatter was reassuring.

While she was willing to accommodate his hobby, however, she was certainly not touching any of the garbage he gathered. She allowed him to take only what he could carry himself. That shortened the venture considerably, and she was grateful when he finally announced that he'd got what he needed and they could return.

Her first order of business once they arrived at the house was to send him to shower. No complaints, this time, but she supposed even he must be keen to wash away the blood. Clean and in a fresh set of clothes he immediately went to the garage.

He seemed absorbed in his task. Satya thought she understood. She was the same, sometimes, when the world grew too much, it was easy to find solace in her craft, to forget the complications and confusions and instead focus on something that made perfect sense.

She left him to it, only calling him away as morning approached.

Jamie glanced at her inquiringly when he entered the room, and she sighed, nodding her consent and letting him settle on the bed. She would indulge him just this once more, she told herself... but she was beginning to doubt that assessment. It was becoming too familiar, too much of a routine, and she didn't know who she was truly indulging anymore. It was surprisingly nice to have him close. To know that as they lay at their most helpless, neither of them was truly alone...

Hmmm, a peculiarly sentimental thought.

She took his proffered hand with only the briefest seconds of hesitation. It was warmer than before, pooling with the fresh life he had drained not long ago, and it felt natural to curl her fingers through his own. Why did she allow this?

Satya did not have time to dwell on it though as the dawn drew aside all other troubles, and she lost herself as always in the immeasurable void as her body turned leadened and unresponsive, along with her mind. The hours flit past all together. She could not tell them apart, nor truly experience them, simply ride out their passage with only the weakest of grasps upon her own existence. How many lifetimes had she misplaced here, in the gap between dawn and dusk? She could not say.

When night fell back into place and she felt time return to its normal rhythm, Satya took the opportunity as she always did to examine Jamie. It was invariably longer before he regained his control but that was not a bad thing. I gave her a moment's peace, to play over her own thoughts, to watch his silent form and ask herself as ever what had inspired her to drag him into this. What was so special about a smile, anyway?

Minutes later and he shifted slightly, eyes regaining their spark and chest rising as he remembered to take a breath. "Satya?"

"Let me guess, you have a question?"

He grinned at her. "How could ya tell?"

"Hmmm, I am beginning to detect a trend," she replied dryly, though it amused her as he tended to do. His brows drew together in a look of concentration as he seemingly pieced together what he wanted to ask. His face was so animated, it was ridiculous.

"What was it like? When ya first got turned, with the one who made ya like this?"

Satya's expression went cold. Those were memories she still did not like to entertain, but she forced herself to study them fleetingly.

"Different," was all she supplied.

Jamie frowned, but he appeared to accept that she was not about to elaborate and quickly changed the subject. She was grateful he understood.

For most of the night he dedicated himself to finishing his arm, and after several hour of hard work he called her into the garage excitedly, giggling to himself.

She regarded him loftily, but he just held up his hands – both of them, the flesh one and a crude mechanical substitute – wiggling his digits in delight.

"Look! I can count to ten now!"

He laughed again, but he appeared so very pleased with himself, and Satya had to admit... it was quite endearing. His emotions tended to burn close to the surface and his giddy mood was infectious, and even discounting that fact she felt a swell of pride at seeing her fledgling accomplish such a thing. He was clever. Foolish at times, but clever.

"You shall be a mathematician in no time," she told him, covering her smile with her hand.

He beamed back at her. "Seems appropriate, right? A vampire who can _count_."

That earned a roll of her eyes. Jamie was in good spirits though and that was pleasant to see regardless of how many bad puns he felt the need to share.

After that he spent the night practicing with his new arm, and Satya gathered some of her less precious possessions for him to train with and set them out on the kitchen table where he was happy to settle. He would pick them up, and set them down, clumsily at first, but improving. The prosthetic arm did not appear to have the dexterity nor sensation of her own, but it was still an impressive piece of work given what he'd built it from.

After several re-calibrations and hours of repetition he was getting the hang of things and the metal hand moved with more confidence, no longer misjudging the strength or range of movement.

"Gonna paint it orange," Jamie told her as he attempted, and failed, to juggle a set of paperweights. They hit the table with a thunk but he was unperturbed, simply picking them up again.

"Do you like orange?"

"Yeah... it's kinda bold, loud, ya know? Like explosions. Always loved orange."

"It is not a bad colour," she agreed, though she'd never had much of a taste for it herself. She preferred cooler colours, the crisp perfection of an unblemished white surface, a gentle blue...

A sudden knock at the door distracted her. She paused.

Jamie shared some of her confusion, catching the paperweights and setting then back down as he looked over at her. "Expecting guests?"

Satya frowned. "Wait here," she told him firmly, leaving him in the kitchen as she went to investigate. This was unusual.

Strictly speaking, Satya was not in the habit of accepting visitors, she disliked the idea of inviting humans so close and her relationships with those of her kind were not tightly knit. She knew several, of which she had seen throughout the years, but they felt more like passing acquaintances than friends, all those who mattered had been left behind...

There was a third possibility, of course, but Satya discarded it. What kind of slayer would knock?

Feeling uncertain she hovered by the door. The knock sounded again, sharp and impersonal.

Setting aside any reservations she unlocked the door and opened it.

The woman on the other side smiled. "You look well, _ma chérie_ , how have you been?"

Satya blinked in surprise. "Amélie... how... unexpected. It is still Amélie, isn't it?"

"For now, yes. I was in the area, I only thought it polite to drop by," she said airily, as if it were nothing. It had been at least a decade since Satya had laid eyes on her though. She looked the same as always, pale and slender with dark hair and delicate features, perfectly content with every aspect of herself and not afraid to show it.

"You could have warned me."

"Ah, but where would the fun be in that?" she asked. "Are you not going to invite me in?"

Again, Satya stood indecisively, but she supposed there was no harm in it. While they might not be close they knew each other, and the Countess had never done anything to directly offend her. She was far older than Satya, and far more bored with the world, it would be only polite to entertain the woman.

"You may come in, if you please," she allowed, stepping aside to grant her passage.

The Countess sauntered into the house like she owned it, wasting no time drifting toward the living room. Satya closed up and followed swiftly.

Jamie, of course, had not stayed in the kitchen. He waited apprehensively as they approached and the Countess made a delighted sound.

"And who might this be?" she asked, eyes roving across him.

"That is Jamie," Satya said, "I turned him a few nights ago."

"My, so young," she said with a sigh. She closed the distance between them as if to examine him closer, and Satya felt an unexpected surge or irritation.

Jamie looked uncertain. He was clearly uncomfortable being studied so intently but he didn't want to cause offense so he managed a lopsided grin. "Haven't seen ya before. You a friend?"

The Countess chuckled. "What a sweet thought. No, you may think of me more as a distant relative if you like. That is how I picture most of our kind."

"So I should call ya auntie or somethin'?"

"Not if you wish to remain on my good side." Apparently done with him she turned her attention back to Satya, shaking her head slightly. "I never expected this from you. It is nice to see I was mistaken, the company should do you some good."

"What brings you so far?" Satya asked bluntly.

"Like I told you, I was simply passing through," she said, finding herself a seat and elegantly crossing her legs over each other. Her gaze was expectant. "Now, forget about that and tell me what you have been up to. It has been _far_ too long."

With nothing else to do, Satya found her own chair and obliged. They chatted for some time, discussing various events of the last several years, and Jamie listened with interest though he did not contribute anything himself. Given what she knew of him Satya would not be surprised if he was reluctant to relate his experiences.

The Countess, at least, appeared to enjoy herself. It was hours later when she finally announced that she would be taking her leave, walking across to give Satya a quick farewell kiss on the cheek. She thought, for one terrible second, that she was going to do the same for Jamie, the woman certainly seemed to be contemplating the idea, but in the end she simply bid them goodnight and departed with grace.

Satya attempted to relax with her visitor gone, but found she could not.

"Strange one, her. Are other vampires all like that?"

Satya glanced over at him. "No. The Countess is quite singular."

That clearly tickled him, for his eyebrows shot up and a daft grin spread across his face. "The Countess? She's a _countess_?" Jamie snickered. "That's fancy. Some proper Dracular shit right there."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Her real name is Amélie Lacroix, but you will find that vampires who manage to live for an extended period of time are in the habit of changing their names. To save confusion, in wider circles we tend to go by a _nom de plume_."

Jamie nodded wisely. "Ahhhh... like superhero identities?"

She sighed. "No."

He appeared to be thinking though, head tipping to the side as he contemplated her. "You got one? A fancy name I mean?"

Satya expected she would regret it, but she nodded. "I go by Symmetra."

"Symmetra..." he parroted, trying the name out like he was tasting it. "Mmm, I like it. Swanky. Think I could get one too?"

"There's nothing to stop you from choosing one," she informed him politely, "but you will have to build a reputation before anyone troubles themselves to learn it."

"Ah, now reputations I can handle. That's pretty much my specialty," he said with perfect conviction, and Satya felt her confidence drain. Oh, he was not going to do her own reputation any favors, that was for sure.

She let out a tired breath. "In any case, it troubles me that she would choose to visit. It is unusual for her to drop by with no other purpose save socializing, regardless of what she says."

Jamie watched thoughtfully. "Ya don't like her?"

Satya pondered this. "I do not dislike her, but she is different from myself. I have my own way of living and she has hers. To me, hunting is a necessity, to her it is a game... she enjoys seducing both men and woman alike to their unfortunate end, and she tends to leave far more of a mark on the places she passes through than I."

"Sound to _me_ like ya don't like her," Jamie said with another grin.

"I... pity her, sometimes," Satya admitted. "She told me once that she does not feel much anymore. Perhaps because she is so old, perhaps because she is tired... regardless, it is a sad existence when the only real joy remaining is the hunt."

"Yeah... yeah, guess that is kinda sad..." he agreed, and the mood turned suddenly grim. That was the end of their discussion of the Countess.

They went to bed before sunrise and Jamie did not seek her permission this time but simply slipped into place, and Satya said nothing of it.


	10. Chapter 10

Jamie was still as enamored with his new arm the next night as he had been the last. He spent a good deal of time simply turning it this way and that, admiring how it moved to his commands, how good it felt to be almost whole again. Course, the thing wasn't without its downsides. It weighed a bloody lot and he couldn't feel shit with metal fingers, which made it tricky to perform any delicate tasks but hey, it was a step up from having no arm, so he was pleased. Practice would help.

He let his mind run over improvements that could be made, more complicated components he might be able to find and substitute in later to cut out a bit of the weight and maybe add more functionality. And orange paint, too, it was going to look ace...

"Would you like to go out tonight?" Satya asked casually, busy with another of her magazines.

Jamie couldn't help a slow grin spreading across his face. He forgot his new arm for a moment, tone immediately turning sly. "Ya askin' me out on a date?"

This caused her to pause her reading, lifting her head up to give him a scowl. "There is simply somewhere I wish to go. I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to get out of the house, besides which I'd still prefer not to leave you by yourself... Is that a problem?"

She raised a singular eyebrow.

"Nah, it's all good," he assured her quickly with a chuckle, in no great hurry to prod further. There was only so much of his teasing she was likely to put up with. "I'd love to go. It'll be an adventure! What's the plan then, huh? Gonna go haunt a graveyard? Something... vampire-y?"

"There is an event I wish to attend... or perhaps 'exhibition' would be a better term," she told him.

"Oh," Jamie said with noticeably less enthusiasm. "So this is an artsy thing then?"

It was her turn to smile. "It would hardly hurt you to culture yourself a little. It shall be running for another week however, so if now does not suit you then there will be other opportunities, or I can make my own arrangements."

Jamie hummed to himself, but he shrugged. Wasn't like he had much else to do. "If ya wanna go then I'm fine taggin' along, just don't expect me to know anythin' about it."

"Of course," Satya said smoothly.

Here he paused, a new thought occurring to him. He glanced down at himself, at his loose shirt and old, patched jeans, and looked back to Satya uncertainly. "Is this gonna be... uh... one of those fancy events that need dressin' up for?"

"No," she said, hiding her widening smile with her hand, "it is a public event so I am sure that even you will pass. It runs every year."

Jamie ignored the jab. He knew he wasn't exactly the pristine picture of an art connoisseur, didn't take a genius to recognize _that_ and he didn't much care. Art had always seemed like a waste, a thing for rich folk with too much time on their hands. Couldn't say he understood it. Still, if it was what Satya enjoyed then he was willing to give it a shot. "Doesn't that get boring?"

"They have new sculptural pieces so no experience is quite like the last," she explained. "I admire the creativity of the design."

"Fair enough. We goin' now?"

His apparent impatience clearly surprised her, but she nodded, checking her place before closing her magazine. "If you like. It normally finishes at midnight so it would be best not to leave it too late."

As usual Satya locked up and they set out, her leading the way. This time they ended up in the cleaner central streets, and Jamie guessed this must be the place because he noticed several posters and people in high-vis vests with logos on their shirts, some of which were handing out fliers. Satya accepted one politely as the passed.

When she unfolded it Jamie peered in curiously, and found that there was a map with several locations marked upon it. "There are no rules as to which order to do this in, but I prefer to work numerically."

"Looks like a treasure hunt... couldn't they just stick it all in a gallery somewhere?" he asked.

"That would defeat the purpose of the exhibit. Part of the experience is witnessing the sculptures in the environment they were placed, it grants new context and potential. Most of them will be outdoors."

Sounded like some art bullshit to him, but Jamie nodded along as if this was all perfectly reasonable. Truth be told he preferred the idea of getting to look at this stuff outside rather than having to go into some posh building where he would have felt blatantly out of place.

Satya remained in control of the map and led the way. There were plenty of people on the street, some of which seemed to just be passing through, others with maps of their own, but all of which she chose to ignore. When they reached the first display there was a small crowd clustered around the alley that it had been placed in. Jamie would have happily barged his way through to let Satya get closer but she was content to remain on the fringes of the group, and they had a good view even discounting their remarkable eyesight.

Jamie had to admit, it was... not what he'd been expecting. He guessed, like most people he knew, his concept of art ranged from elaborate portraits of aristocrats to weird abstract things with lots of paint splatters. The sculpture, on the other hand, had been constructed with an entirely different mindset.

Suspended from above was a gigantic fish, glowing eerily in the gloom. It was made from many separate pieces of metal, each fixed with its own strip of light, shifting in the slight breeze and rippling like scales... every so often the colour of the fish would change, giving it an iridescent quality as the lights altered their hue.

Must have taken bloody ages to put together... he had to admire the craft that had gone into it, even if the point eluded him. Rigging that many lights would have been a pain.

Satya was studying the sculpture intently, as if memorizing it.

"It's shiny," Jamie contributed, having little else to say.

"That it is," she agreed with amusement, finally tearing her gaze away. "Do you like it?"

He flapped his hand in a vague, noncommittal gesture. "Yeah? Kinda? It's... pretty, I guess. Big and bright and it moves, better than landscapes of whatever."

"Good," she said. "If that is the case you may enjoy the rest of the exhibition. They call it a light festival if I remember correctly - a celebration of light, art, technology and design. It is a fairly new event in the grander scheme of things but I hope that it continues, I rather like the consideration they put into how to utilize light in the way they do. Light is important to consider in any design, whether it relates to architecture or not, and... I suppose there is a certain symbolism to it. Without the darkness none of these would be possible."

"Ya makin' a metaphor?" he hazarded.

"Not as such. You could read meaning into anything were you to try hard enough. No, I think... I think I merely appreciate the balance of it all."

"Well... it ain't bad, I'll give ya that. Best art I've ever seen."

"I'm glad you like it," she said. "In any case, shall we move on? There is more to see."

She led the way from exhibit to exhibit, and all in all, Jamie found it was a fairly fun experience. Sure, he still had no clue what any of it was about, and some of the work was laughably bizarre, but it was always unexpected and he relished that. Plus Satya didn't seem to mind that he had nothing profound to say on the subject. She weathered his various puns and simplistic judgement of every sculpture and it appeared to entertain her more than it did irritate her, which was a delightful discovery.

It was nice, too, to see her so engaged in something. She clearly took great pleasure in appraising every new piece, measuring its merit as she dissected each element of the design. Looked even more beautiful when her eyes sparkled with that energy...

A couple of hours later they were nearing the end of the trail, meandering down a back street where a set of vertical metal poles had been erected, twined with vine-like fairy lights so that it felt like wandering through a glowing forest. Jamie had to duck a little under the more low-hanging parts, and was giggling to himself about this complication when quite abruptly Satya seized his hand.

Startled, he shot her a look but her face was perfectly blank. She was frozen on the spot and unresponsive, almost a statue.

"Satya?" he inquired softly, concern rising in his voice.

A few seconds later she shook herself from whatever trance she'd fallen into, and her eyes narrowed. "We need to leave."

"Yeah, sure, but eh... why?"

"That is not important right now," she said, and her grip on his hand tightened. She didn't wait for his response, simply turned on her heel and strode off, leaving him to stagger after her since she was evidently not letting go. They left behind the fairy-lights and audience still exploring the display, quickly finding the main streets again. Satya was in a hurry.

"What's the matter? We in a rush?" he asked.

"Something is wrong."

"Somethin'? _What_?" Jamie demanded in exasperation.

"I do not know," Satya said, equally as testy.

"Ya don't... alright, so... are ya tellin' me ya got spidey senses?"

She looked confused. Obviously not a superhero fan then.

"Can we, like, sense danger before stuff happens or some shit?" he tried again. "Is that what this is?"

Satya shook her head. "No, but I won't deny we typically have good instincts. I think I picked up on something subconsciously, but I trust my intuition and I do not think it would be wise to wait around and see if I can determine precisely what is wrong."

"So we're scarpering?"

"Essentially," she said. She drew him down an alley, stopping him once they were in the shadows.

"What about ya art thing? Thought ya wanted to see all of that."

"It is not important right now," she said in a hushed voice, setting a finger to his lips and silencing him. Jamie swallowed, but bit down any further comments.

Satya waited there for a while, listening, gaze fixed on the street. Jamie began to fidget. After a couple of minutes of tense silence she sighed.

"I do not think we are being followed."

"Who exactly would wanna follow us?" he scoffed.

"I told you I do not know," Satya said. "Still... I think it would be best if we went home."

"What about the art-"

"It doesn't matter, Jamie. It will be open for another week and I would rather keep you safe. That was my promise, after all."

Oh... of course. It was easy to forget about that, the reason she probably kept him around, the responsibility or duty she figured she had. Stupid of him. Shouldn't have got caught up in the whole wandering around looking at fancy art with a pretty lady thing. Hell, he was a little uncertain as to what their exact dynamic was but he needed to remember the context.

"Yeah... yeah, alright," he allowed, sounding grimmer than he meant.

Satya made them shadow the entire way, constantly checking their surroundings as they slipped back through the city, but nothing ever accosted them. Soon enough they were inside the clean white walls of Satya's home, and Jamie slumped on the couch with a sense of disappointment. Satya still seemed agitated however, pacing back and forth with a waspish energy that was entirely unlike her customary composure.

"I should speak to the Countess," she decided after an age. "I do not trust her sudden presence here, there may be more to it that she let on."

Jamie watched her pacing until she paused, glancing at him as if waiting for some reaction. Sitting up properly he tried to look focused. "Ya think she's the problem?"

"Probably not directly, but she may know something if she is still in the area," Satya said.

"Didn't leave an address did she?"

"No, but I may be able to track her, I know some of her habits and vampires have a distinctive enough scent. Not tonight, though... I think it would be wisest to lay low for now, and I shall locate her tomorrow night. Yes, that seems like the best course of action..."

Jamie suspected she was talking to herself more than him at this point. He did a lot of that too.

"Alright then," he said, dropping a bit of cheer into his tone. "So if ya don't know what's worryin' ya and ya can't do anythin' about it right now then don't fret about it... She'll be right, you'll see."

"If only it were that simple..." Satya murmured. She appeared to calm as the hours passed without incident though, and Jamie attempted some more juggling practice and found he was a little better than before. Clumsy still, but getting somewhere.

He struck up a few unrelated conversations, mostly to distract her but also because he was bored, and she responded courteously enough though he figured her mind was still on other things. At least she finished her magazine.

As the morning closed in Satya roused herself enough for the normal routine, ushering him into the bedroom and setting about ensuring that it was secure.

Jamie wandered over to the bed and took the far side, lying on his back and leaving enough room beside him so that she wouldn't have to shove him over. He was getting weirdly used to this.

Mulling over the odd normality of the whole situation a new realization struck him. "I'm never gonna have another dream, am I?"

Satya turned to look at him as she finished her check. "I beg your pardon?"

"It kinda just hit me is all... I mean, we don't really sleep so of course we don't dream, but... it's a bit weird when ya realise somethin' ya always just took for granted is gone."

Satya frowned. Her reply sounded tentative. "Will you miss it?"

"Dreamin'?" He gave an exaggerated shrug. "How the hell would I know? Was just a thing that used to happen... sometimes dreams were fun, sometimes they were scary, sometimes they were confusing, and mostly ya just forgot 'em in the mornin' anyways... but they were always there... and now they're not."

"There are those who say you can only truly appreciate a thing once it is lost," she said gently.

Jamie just grinned. "Eh, sounds like rubbish to me."

Satya moved over to the bed, climbing on and settling beside him. Her gaze was intense, and this time it was her who chose to take his hand. "We may never dream again... and we may never see the sunrise, nor taste the food we used to love, but if we are careful we will see many more starlit nights than any mortal... and our eyes will never dim enough to lose their beauty."

He couldn't help but cackle at that, beaming back at her like a fool. "Ya really are poetic sometimes, ya know that?"

Her expression was scornful. "I am attempting to console you."

"Heh, well... don't think I need all that much consoling... Might not like everythin' about the whole vampire business, but truth be told... truth be told this ain't so bad..." he murmured, closing his fingers around her own. It felt right.

"Perhaps," Satya agreed. "I am still troubled though... the Countess... I need to..."

The dawn was rolling in swiftly however and she was having as much trouble getting the words out as Jamie was having following them. There was no time...

With the last of his strength he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and hoped that she understood even if he couldn't tell her what he meant by it.

* * *

(( _Just a heads up that updates may be a bit slower than they were to start with since I've got things to deal with right now, but this will keep going._ ))


	11. Chapter 11

With the night came the return of her unease. Satya got up without waiting for Jamie to stir, brushing her hair and taking a change of clothes to the shower with her. She tried to let the water soothe her. To let every trace of dirt wash away and smother any lingering scents with the pleasing fragrance of flowers, something she had long ago developed a fondness for.

Something was wrong in her city, a lurking danger she couldn't put her finger on, and the uncertainty of that was as much of a concern as the problem itself. She did not know what she was dealing with, and Satya detested uncertainties. Until she had unravelled the matter she would not be satisfied. She needed the truth.

Satya dried herself off and dressed in a dark skirt and blouse, checking herself in the mirror as she pinned her earnings on. Her complexion was still warm, if a little pale, and by all accounts she looked quite human. She didn't know how she felt about that. Maybe it would have been better to stare back at the face of a monster and acknowledge what she already knew, rather than this calm facade, but who was she to question the nature of her existence? A monster she may be, but certainly no savage, she had her dignity and her principles. If she ate regularly it was easy to pass as human, even if she had no desire to mingle with them. It made things more convenient.

Confident in her appearance she left the bathroom to find her heels, passing Jamie on her way.

"We off somewhere?" he asked, watching as she buckled them on.

"I am," she informed him, "but I would prefer if you would stay here this time."

Jamie looked disappointed. "Oh."

"I have things I wish to discuss with the Countess, she knows me better than you so she may be more talkative without you there. Besides, last night still troubles me. It would be safest for you to lay low until I have got to the bottom of things," she said by way of explanation. She finished with her shoes and stood up, hand on her hip as she regarded him.

He still appeared oddly dejected as he tugged at his hair. "Yeah, nah, it's fine... I know I wouldn't be much help anyway..."

Satya closed her eyes for a second. "It's not personal, Jamie, I'm doing the rational thing here. Stay inside and behave."

"Ya sure ya don't gotta call a babysitter?" he asked, his laugh tinged with bitterness. Why on earth he was so offended by this she didn't understand, but she did not have the time to deal with it. She took a breath, reminding herself to stay calm.

"Don't be so touchy, you're a grown man, I'm sure you can entertain yourself for a few hours. I will be back soon."

His pout was as ridiculous as ever. "Sure... I'll just... mind the house or whatever."

"There's always television if you get bored," she reminded him.

He nodded, eyes set on his feet. Then he managed a smile, almost sheepish, as if embarrassed with himself. "Guess this just ain't how I pictured the glamorous lifestyle of a vampire going..."

"Nor me, to be frank," Satya said, allowing a drop of sympathy into her tone. "I promise I will be back soon though, and maybe once I understand what we're dealing with I can settle the matter, and then we can go back and finish the exhibit. If you would like, that is."

Jamie blinked in surprise, tearing his gaze up. His lips twitched, and this time his smile fell into place a little more naturally. "Yeah... I'd like that."

"Then be good," she told him with mock seriousness. She shook a warning finger before she slipped out the door and into the night.

The air outside was stormy, a cold wind sweeping down the streets with the heavy charge of threatening rain. Satya supposed it was a good thing the temperature never really bothered her. She spared a moment to tie her hair so the wind would not leave it in a disarray and set off with a brisk pace.

Though she'd never had a close bond with the Countess she was well acquainted with her reputation as well as her habits, and so there was little question that her search would begin in one of the more wealthy districts. The woman surrounded herself with luxury at every opportunity, even preferring to select her prey from higher society and take her sweet time ensnaring them in her web before the hunger compelled her to end the game. If she had chosen to remain in the city that was where she would be.

Satya stalked several likely locations with no luck, but she continued with single minded determination and efficiency. It seemed a hopeless endeavour. Regardless of her knowledge and skill, a city was a city, and by its nature vast. There were many places that the Countess might chose to visit, and she had only so much time to complete her search, if the Countess had not already decided to leave. Satya was not easily dissuaded though. She picked through the scents lingering in the air as she sought for something distinctive, and thankfully, was rewarded. A few hours before dawn she found the other vampire overlooking a fountain outside one of the city's prestigious theaters.

The Countess was perched on the stone edge, just clear of the cool spray. Whether conscious or not there was an elegance to the pose, at a glance she almost seemed to be a part of the sculpture, perfectly still save for the sway of her hair in the breeze.

She looked up as Satya approached and a slow smile crept onto her face. "Ah, so the night is not so lonely after all."

"I wish to talk," Satya said, skipping the pleasantries.

"I gathered as much," the Countess said. She swiveled around so they were facing, swinging her legs over the edge and crossing them neatly. "You know I hate this time? Earlier in the night there are still so many people, but this late it as if the world dies... totally empty. _Quelle barbe_."

"No one to play with?"

She let out a chuckle. "You understand me entirely. Now, what troubles you?"

Satya hesitated. She did not wish to go immediately to throwing accusations but there was no point dancing around the subject, she might as well be plain. "I want to know why you came here. To this city. Why you visited me."

"I told you I was merely passing through," the Countess said with an idle flick of her hand.

"To my precise location? Amélie, I do not appreciate being lied to. Something is wrong, and I wish to know what. I have never taken issue with you straying into my territory but I expect a degree of respect."

The Countess arched her eyebrows. Satya held her gaze stubbornly, refusing to be cowed by those piercing yellow eyes. The Countess was far older than her, and in all likelihood much stronger, but she would not be looked down upon in her own home. The woman had never shown her any particular malice and she was willing to test her goodwill tonight.

After an icy eternity the Countess broke the stare, reaching up to undo the ribbon tying her own hair. She tilted her face into the wind, letting it blow the dark locks back and running her fingers through to tease out any tangles before she carefully tied it back once more in a flawless bow. When she returned her attention to Satya her expression was thoughtful.

"Hmmm, well if it troubles you so deeply I suppose it wouldn't hurt to explain," she said. She patted the side of the fountain, indicating that Satya should take a seat beside her.

Reluctantly Satya did as she was bid. The stone was cold and slightly damp, but it at least looked as if it had been cleaned regularly, which was one small mercy.

Once she was comfortable the Countess continued. "In short, I'm simply trying to tidy up a problem. I've been being tailed by some very pesky hunters for a while and it's getting tiresome, I thought it was time I dealt with the matter."

Satya balked. "You lead _hunters_ here?"

"Now, don't sound so upset," the Countess said lightly, "I told you I was tidying it up, didn't I?"

She could still not shake her outrage. The shock of the revelation was one thing, but the total lack of concern the Countess seemed to feel was equally as infuriating. Her fingers clutched tightly to the edge of the fountain, teeth clenched together. No, she needed to retain her composure, could not allow her feathers to be ruffled so easily. Satya counted to ten and allowed her emotions to settle.

When she spoke again her voice was level. "And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

The Countess smiled. "Quite simple... I've been trying to track down Reaper."

" _What?_ " Satya choked out, all pretense of calm lost.

"It's not that complicated, _ma_ _chérie_ ," the Countess said loftily.

Satya just shook her head, dumbfound. Hunters she could understand, even if she wasn't exactly pleased to find them lead into her city, but Reaper? He... he was not one to be trifled with.

"Reaper is dangerous," she said, "he's as much a threat to us as any human, why would you want anything to do with him?"

"Oh, I've no intention of meeting him in person, I simply figured if I could get close enough he might present a more enticing prey to those hunters of mine. Reaper has such a flair for the dramatic, it's not hard for him to make an impression."

"So that's your big plan?" she asked in disbelief.

The Countess nodded. "More or less. It will give me a bit of peace, whatever the outcome. If Reaper kills the hunters then I shan't have to worry about them any longer, and if the hunters kill Reaper... well, I doubt we shall miss him much."

This was far worse than she had anticipated. Still, Satya knew getting any angrier wouldn't help her, she needed to focus on the details. "But why here?"

"I told you, I have been looking for Reaper. Rumors led me to believe he might be traveling through the area, so I thought I would drop by to see if you had heard anything. When you did not mention him I gathered you had no information. You would hardly forget."

Satya narrowed her eyes. "And you didn't think to tell me any of this earlier? That Reaper could be near and that you have hunters on your trail who you have conveniently led to my doorstep?"

The Countess gave a slight shrug. "You didn't ask."

She closed her eyes, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. This was a mess... Hunters were difficult enough to deal with, if only because they were not limited to the night like vampires were and had the luxury of picking their battles, but Reaper was a loose cannon that only the foolish allowed close. Juggling both would be taxing.

A sudden thought occurred and her eyes snapped open. "Jamie..."

"Who, your little fledgling?"

"I need to get back to him," Satya said, hopping off the edge of the fountain. She had hoped to find the Countess earlier than this but she'd been out most of the night, leaving him all alone... He'd be safe there, wouldn't he? She did not draw attention to herself, there would be no need for anyone to go poking around there. Yet she could not shake an irrational dread twisting in her stomach.

"I'm quite sure he's okay," the Countess said, clearly reading the nature of her agitation, "it's me the hunters are trailing after all, they would hardly be distracted by someone so inconsequential."

"We're going back."

" _We_?" she asked, folding her arms and showing no inclination to move.

Satya scowled, turning to face the older vampire. "Yes. Until you have cleaned up this mess I won't have you playing around in my city. It is unacceptable."

"Is it now? And what would you intend to do should I refuse?" she said playfully, lips peeling back in a grin.

Satya said nothing.

After a few drawn out seconds the Countess sighed. "Ah, don't frown, I was joking Satya. If I've offended you so terribly then it's only proper I set things right. A few centuries and this will all be behind us, you shall see."

"Perhaps," Satya conceded, though she had no clue if that would actually be the case. It was daunting to remember sometimes the vastness of the potential future. It spanned so inconceivably far - how long would it be until even a century felt like a blink? These were not the kind of questions she wished to plague herself with.

The Countess swung off the edge of the fountain and landed gracefully. "Shall we then?"

Satya led the way back through the city. Rain was beginning to fall in a dull haze, and although the cold did not bother her the damp was not appreciated, a sentiment her companion seemed to share. They picked paths with the most cover, though there was no way to stay truly dry.

"I could be in my hotel right now," the Countess remarked, holding a hand out to catch the falling rain and let it trail down her wrist.

"And I could be at home, save that you stirred enough trouble to draw me out," Satya replied wryly, though there was no fire to the argument. What mattered to her now was returning to her house, and then solving the problem before her. Emotions were counterproductive, resentment would not help her now or later, and there had been no ill will in the Countess's actions, the world was simply... trivial to her. As she had told Satya, she felt very little. People, places, they would all fade away in time, it was hard to care...

"Now, that's unexpected," the Countess said, pulling Satya from her contemplation.

She glanced up, catching the flashing blue and red lights reflected on the rain-washed street outside her house. A chill ran up her spine.

"Firetrucks?"

"Perhaps your fledgling forgot cooking is no longer necessary? Or one of the neighbors wanted an early breakfast?" the other woman suggested, entirely unmoved by the scene.

Satya, on the other hand, found her pace increasing. She drew to a stop a few short meters from her front door, immediately shadowing to avoid the notice of the firemen outside. Part of her wanted to walk in. Part of her wanted to demand answers. Yet she did not move, just observed, taking in the scorched walls and cracked glass.

The fire had been dealt with before it could spread to the entire house, leaving only some of the structure damaged but it was clearly more sever than the work of burnt toast... As much as she mourned the loss of such a fine home, there were other concerns.

"Jamie," she murmured again, frozen in place.

Where was he? What had happened? If the fire was an accident why hadn't he put it out? Was he alright? Had she made a mistake by leaving him?

She took a hesitant step forward but the Countess's cold hand settled on her shoulder.

"If he's still there he's likely dead," she said softly, "if he had any common sense he would have left, this won't be a safe place to stay anymore. We should go."

"I need to find him," Satya said, as much to herself as to the Countess.

"In this weather? You'll have difficulty finding a scent, and besides it's not long till dawn. Come back to my hotel and we can search for your wayward fledgling tomorrow night if he's still around. If he can't survive by himself for even a little while then you may have picked a lost cause."

"There's still time," Satya said firmly, shrugging the Countess's hand away. She turned her back on the house, stalking off down the street without waiting for her to follow. "I'll find him."

The Countess sighed theatrically, but she quickly caught up and matched her pace. "I'll never understand you young ones..."


	12. Chapter 12

It wasn't personal, Jamie reminded himself. She'd said as much. Still, he couldn't help feeling a little dejected left alone in the house while Satya went to chat with her vampire buddy. It was, he realized, the first time since the night they'd met that she'd left any real distance between them. He'd thought they might be getting closer...

He was at least partially consoled by the fact that they might get to see the rest of the exhibit together, clearly his company couldn't be that bad if she'd take him along twice...

She was beautiful, and fascinating, and a little terrifying, and treated him with a kindness he was unaccustomed to... it was easy to feel confused by the whole matter, especially since he now appeared to be living in her house, at least temporarily, and even when he thought he was just pushing his luck she held his hand every time the day drew close... maybe she just thought that was part of her duty too, but he had to wonder...

Looking for something to distract him he fell back on old habits.

Of everything he loved to build, Jamie had always held a special affection for explosives. There was something... alluring about them, maybe the raw power and destruction they offered... holding something like that made you feel formidable, important... like you could actually make a mark on the world...

He'd been able to sell his work here and there too, or use it himself on the rare occasion he was partaking in a heist of his own.

In any case, it was exactly what he needed to take his mind off the present. He saw no reason why becoming a member of the undead meant he had to give up any of his hobbies. Being a vampire didn't make him any less himself, just... different in some ways, but it certainly didn't dull his appreciation for homemade explosives, and Satya wasn't around to disapprove. Now that he had two hands again, might as well put them to good use, right?

Unfortunately he didn't have much in the way of supplies to work with but rather than allow that to defeat him he instead turned to whatever he could scrounge from the cupboards. Satya, being the type she was, had more than a wide array of cleaning products and after an hour reading through the labels he felt satisfied he could cobble something together. With the right chemicals, and a little engineering, it was easier than you'd think.

Maybe it was wrong to take without asking, but he needed to cheer himself up and he'd pay her back later... somehow... He was a little short on cash at the moment, but he'd work out the details. If his treasure was still where he'd hidden it that could be fleeced for a pretty penny. Still needed to give Mako a cut...

Mako was another thing he didn't want to dwell on though, so Jamie gathered up the various products he'd pilfered and carried them out to the garage with the rest of his stash. There, he was content to sift through his collection and figure out precisely what he could make.

Chemicals smelled a heck of a lot stronger than he was used to but Jamie found it wasn't unbearable. Probably because he was accustomed to the scent since he'd been using this kind of stuff as a substitute for pure compounds for years. His senses didn't change, just elevated his perception, but familiar things weren't so bad... better than bloody flowery shampoos, that was for damn sure.

He pieced together a handful of bombs, two of which he hooked up to detonators, but the rest he left in a half-finished state, lacking the proper components to finish. It passed another few hours.

Yet all too soon he had exhausted what few supplies he had, and Jamie was forced to contemplate how to spend the rest of the night.

Satya had said she wouldn't be long, but he still hadn't heard her return and he had no way of knowing if it would be anytime soon. Maybe she wouldn't come back. Maybe there really _was_ something to worry about, and she'd got in over her head while he tinkered carelessly away in the garage...

"No, no, _stupid_ , ya bein' stupid," Jamie muttered to himself, casting the thought aside. Satya could look after herself, of course she was fine. She wouldn't just leave him here...

The doorbell rang and Jamie shot to attention, casting aside his tools and staggering to his feet as he dashed out of the garage and back through the house. His excitement was palpable.

Satya was back, and he could show her his work and probably apologize for the fact he'd technically stolen some of her stuff, but more _importantly_ show her what he'd done with it... and maybe she'd be impressed, maybe he's catch that faint glimmer of admiration somewhere behind her careful composure, same as he had done when he'd revealed the construction of his arm...

There was something inexplicably delightful about the idea of her being pleased with him. To be more than another dirty rat pulled from the streets, more than a meal, more than a burden... He was so used to being the disappointment it was a tantalizing alternative.

When he opened the door though it was not Satya who was waiting for him. Jamie's expression soured, lips turning downward and thick eyebrows lowering in a scowl. Of course it wasn't Satya. Why would Satya ring the doorbell to her own home? He'd just been so eager he hadn't bothered to think it through.

"What do ya want?" he demanded, not bothering to make his tone friendly.

The man outside smiled. He was tall, if not nearly so tall as Jamie, but with broader shoulders and a strong build that denoted strength, not to mention a clear confidence in his posture. His skin was dark, his eyes doubly so, and he was dressed entirely in black.

"Are you alone?" the man asked.

Now this didn't strike Jamie as a particularly great way to introduce oneself. He set a hand on his hip, attempting to stare the man down haughtily. "Don't reckon that's any of ya bloody business, mate. Ya gonna tell me what ya want or am I gonna have to tell ya to piss off?"

"Mind your manners, kid," the man said, "I asked a question."

If Jamie had any doubts before he was more than certain now – this bloke was a right tosser, and he could feel perfectly justified being as rude as he pleased to someone like that. Even if he was a friend of Satya's or something that didn't mean _he_ owed them anything.

"And I think I told ya it ain't any of your business, so mind ya own bloody manners. Dunno who ya are, and unless ya got a real clever answer then I don't much care. Hit the road."

He glared at the stranger, and when he made no move to back away Jamie swung the door closed. Or tried to. The man jammed his boot in the way, wedging it open. Then, leisurely, he inhaled, taking a careful sniff.

"Smells like you're alone. I'm looking for some people, perhaps you would care to help?"

Jamie squinted. "...smell? Wait, are you like... uh... ya like me, eh?"

"I'm nothing like you," he said with a smirk, then took hold of the edge of the door and processed to push. While Jamie suspected the change Satya had wrought upon him might have gifted him with a little extra strength, it was nothing compared to what this man had. Despite straining against him, the stranger opened the door as effortlessly as if Jamie had not been there at all, and without waiting for an invitation stepped inside.

Dumbfound, Jamie watched him. After a moments thought he kicked the door closed and followed.

"Oi, what do ya think your doin'?"

"I told you I'm looking for some people. Your sire would be more use to me, but she doesn't appear to be here, so do you know where I could find her?" the man said as he wandered through the house. Just like the Countess, he acted as if the place belonged to him rather than a home he was intruding upon, and he had no clue if it was meant as an insult or was pure absentmindedness.

"Don't even know who ya are..." Jamie muttered.

"Currently I am Gabriel Reyes, better known as the Reaper."

Jamie couldn't help a snicker at that. The 'Countess' was one thing, but clearly vampires had a bigger flair for such nonsense than he'd expected, it was impossible not to grin at quite how seriously the man announced himself. "The Reaper? Ain't that a bit melodramatic?"

"I don't take snark from children," Reaper retorted coldly.

"Who ya callin' a child?"

"You can't be more than a few nights old, smell like a child to me. Do you know where she is?"

Jamie shrugged. "Nah... and if I did, don't think I'd be telling... don't take this the wrong way mate but just bargin' in here and makin' demands ain't exactly the best way to make a good impression..."

"If you can't find her I suppose I'll just have to wait here." Reaper took a seat on the couch, looking very much like he intended to do just that.

Jamie hovered, uncertain what to do. Wasn't like he had much experience with house visits of these likes, nor other vampires in general besides Satya. Was it normal to just arrive out of the blue and wander in? It wasn't by human standards, but heck, who said the undead shared the same principles? She hadn't talked much about any others, he'd only learned about the Countess out of necessity... Had she meant to keep quiet on the matter or had it just slipped her mind?

"Look..." he hazarded, "ya ain't... ya don't wanna go causin' trouble for her, do ya?Are you one of her friends, or..."

"I don't think that's any of your business," Reaper retorted mockingly.

"Well... see, I kinda figure it is," Jamie said, "cos she's lettin' me stay here for now, and I'm pretty sure I owe her for stuff... and, well... wouldn't feel right just-"

"Don't waste your breath. If I wanted to cause her harm there's not a thing you could do, just leave this to the adults, yes?"

Jamie bristled. Wasn't like it was uncommon for people to throw insults his way, but something about the man's attitude, the _way_ he said it, just rubbed him the wrong way. He took a stride forward, attempting to loom over the other vampire on the couch. "I _told_ ya, I ain't a child."

Reaper sneered. "Oh? You think you frighten me? Perhaps I should show you the meaning of fear? I've been wanting a snack after all."

"I'm not human any more, mate, there's no point makin' empty threats, it don't make ya any tougher."

"Empty?" Reaper inquired with a chuckle, rising off the couch in one fluid step. Jamie watched him cautiously. Reaper took a stride forward, slowly, prowling with an inhuman grace that matched the glint in his eyes. Trying to unnerve him...

It was a bluff, Jamie told himself... bloke just wanted to prove a point by acting tough. Called himself Reaper for fuck's sake, someone like that obviously took his image seriously. It was just a game, just an act...

Still, a prickle ran down his spine, and Jamie could not help but stagger back slightly in the face of something that suddenly screamed so loudly to him of danger.

Something about the man was wrong. Something about him that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but that chilled him right down to his toes.

He tried to focus, to work out what to do, to summon a grin or a laugh or find the will to stand his ground... to let the fear win and retreat, but before he could do anything, before he could so much as flinch, Reaper was right before him. Inches apart.

"Christ, mate, no need to-"

He was cut off as cold fingers snapped around his throat. The other vampire leaned in, and his smile was humorless.

"Unlike you, I don't make empty threats," he said.

Scrabble as he might to pry those finger free they gripped like a vise, and Jamie's mouth opened and closed, no words forthcoming. He couldn't breathe. Less of a problem than it would have been a few nights ago, but definitely uncomfortable and _not_ helping him keep his panic under control.

His struggles looked more like the pathetic flail of an infant. Reaper was immovable. It was as terrifying as it was infuriating.

He was beginning to regret his earlier choice of words.

Reaper's fangs sharpened, his gaze intent, and he angled himself forward to bite.

Jamie's strength was useless. There was no fighting someone like that.

So, with few other options available, he did the only other thing he could think of and spat right in his face.

The shock, more than anything, seemed to have the right effect. Reaper dropped him, a look of disgust plastered across his features amidst a clear bafflement.

Jamie didn't waste any time waiting to see how he would react. He caught his balance and tore out of the room at a speed he didn't even know he possessed. He made for the garage on instinct alone, slamming the door behind him and standing back, staring at the pitiful barrier with a growing sense of dread. No way that was going to hold him at bay...

Fuck, why didn't he just bolt out the house while he had the chance? He messed things up, he always messed things up...

"You're trying my patience," Reaper's voice growled out from within the house, his heavy footsteps approaching.

"Why don't we forget about all this, eh?" Jamie suggested, trying to sound light. "Put our differences aside an' all that? I'll admit it, I weren't exactly polite earlier, but ya sound like a reasonable bloke... no point makin' a scene."

"Only one making a scene here is you."

Alright, well, diplomacy obviously wasn't going to win him anything here. Jamie paced, tugging at his hair as he scanned the room for some kind of answer.

Then he paused, realization dawning before he scrambled into action.

"You know I can smell you? Hear you too. There's no hiding," Reaper remarked as he came to a stop outside the door.

Jamie backed away until he hit the wall, eyes narrowed. "Who said I'm hidin'?"

Reaper sighed. Then he kicked the door off its hinges, looming in the entrance. He'd wiped the spit off his face, but there was a faint trace still clinging to the corner of his beard. "Are you done?"

Jamie looked at him, and allowed himself the smallest of grins. "Nearly," he said.

He pressed the detonator.

The explosion was immediate. With a roar it blasted flames and shrapnel outwards in a glorious ball of fiery heat in which the Reaper was engulfed, his hazy silhouette just visible amidst the carnage. The scream he made was piercing.

Jamie was shaking, but despite all that he found himself laughing. "Who's threats are empty now, eh?"

Smoke was clogging the air, thick and laced with the scent of burning. Reaper was staggering back, beating at the flames that still clung to his torn and ragged flesh. Jamie's expression sobered.

It wasn't just Reaper who was on fire, the building had caught too... he didn't have an extinguisher or anything in here and besides there was also a very angry and very scorched vampire still here and it was beginning to occur to him that now was not a bad time to make a hasty exit while he was distracted...

He had no choice... Satya would understand. Wasn't like he'd planned this... She'd understand... she'd have to. With no other plan at hand he ran.

* * *

The rain continued to pour. Jamie was soaked through, and at a loss.

His first thought had been escape. When he was confident he wasn't being pursued, his second thought had been Satya... but where was she? She's said she wanted to talk to the Countess, but he had no damn idea where she'd be either. He'd wandered the streets, trying to find places he thought they might like, the smart kind of sophisticated places he had no experience with, but all his efforts were for nought for as the hours whiled away he was left empty handed.

Her absence left him unexpectedly anxious, he wanted to talk to her... and not just to ask what the hell was going on, but also because... because he felt that for whatever reason if she was there then things would be okay... but she wasn't, he was alone, and maybe... maybe he was just going to have to accept that for the time being.

He didn't dare go back to her house. Not with Reaper still about. So how could he contact her? Wasn't like he had her number or anything. No, unless there were some secret telepathic vampire powers he wasn't aware of then he'd just have to deal with things himself. Time was limited, and he couldn't search for her indefinitely. Dawn was fast approaching. He was short on options.

There was only one place he dared to try. Retracing old routes he found himself back at a place he had not expected to see again for a long time. He reached, automatically, for the spare key, but hesitated. It was missing. Huh...

Frowning, he stared at the door. Never thought he'd be knocking here. Cautiously, he reached forward with his metal hand and gave a soft knock... then a louder one moments later when there was no response.

Jamie hopped anxiously from foot to foot, each impatient second drawn out to a lifetime as he hovered outside the door. What if he was sleeping too heavily to hear? What if he wasn't there? What if Mako had moved out in the short time they'd been apart? Maybe he'd found somewhere better? Then what?

Should he just wait outside the door until the sun rose? Where else could he go? Heck, maybe he could find a backyard and bury himself or something, it wasn't like he had any particular need to breathe save for habit and the fact it made talking a lot easier...

He was busy running tangents in his head, and almost missed the heavy tread of footsteps when they finally approached. Shooting to attention he stepped back slightly, hand tapping unthinkingly at the side of his leg. New concerns began to build, but he didn't have time to wrestle with them because the door opened at there he was. Mako.

He was dressed in a loose shirt and boxers and his sliver hair hung in tangles, evidence that he's just dragged himself out of bed if the murderous expression on his face wasn't enough. He had broad features, and a broad figure, and coupled with his intimidating height and muscles made a bonafide mountain of a man. Enough to scare most people shitless. Jamie, however, had a different kind of fear to deal with.

He grinned. "Hey mate... ya miss me?"

Mako's eyes widened in recognition, and his tone was incredulous. "Jamie?"

His laugh came a little too shrill, fingers continuing to tap with nervous energy. "Yep, the one and only!"

"Thought you might be dead."

"Ha, well... not as far off the mark as you'd think, but it's a long story and I really don't got the time..." he said, fidgeting as he spoke. "Look, I gotta ask for a favour, and it's gonna sound right crazy, but I dunno where else to go and I'm on a bit of a time limit so... so I'm sorry for just disappearin' but I swear I have my reasons and I'll tell ya everythin' when I can, includin' the treasure, but will ya let me in?"

Mako grunted, pulling the door open wide and letting a relieved Jamie stagger through.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Not important right now mate, told ya, bit of a time limit here..." he muttered, pacing quickly about the room as he thought to himself. Mako shut the apartment, watching curiously as Jamie moved with waspish agitation.

"This... this is gonna sound weird alright, but I'm gonna need somewhere dark to hide today. Like, completely blocked up. Think we've got enough crap lyin' about to do the job, bit of card and cloth and a fuck tonne of duct-tape... can probably use my room if ya haven't done anythin' with it, but it has to be dark and... and ya gotta make sure no one's gonna go in there..." he babbled in a stream, glancing up to try and catch Mako's reaction.

His friend was frowning. "What are you on?"

"Nothin', mate, I swear! I just... I need your help, okay? This is important..."

Mako looked skeptical, but he sighed, and nodded tiredly, apparently willing to humor him. "Fine. But I want the whole story tomorrow once whatever this is is over."

"No worries!" Jamie declared, already grabbing what supplies he though might be of use from the lounge. He bundled them up in his arms, shoving a few extra pieces at Mako for him to carry before taking his haul back to his room.

It was really more of a walk-in closet than a room, just enough space for a bed and a cardboard box where he kept most of his possessions, the rest balanced on the haphazardly nailed up shelves. The window was small and grimy and didn't have much of a view anyway so it wouldn't be much of a loss.

He quickly set to covering it as best he could, instructing Mako to hang up several layers of sheets over the door so no light would slip in through the cracks. There truly wasn't any time to spare, because once he was satisfied he could already feel the creep of drowsiness beginning to take hold of his limbs. He slumped down on the bed, looking up at Mako with another awkward grin.

"Probably best ya get out of here now... don't think ya gonna want to see this. Leave me till sundown, alright? And make sure no one comes in."

There was concern in Mako's eyes. "You're not well."

"No, it's not... look, I really need ya to go."

Mako still looked hesitant though.

"Bleedin' hell mate..." he groaned, but he didn't have time to argue. "Fine, but... I'm gonna look pretty dead soon, and I need... I need ya to not freak out or try and call an ambo or anything... I swear I'm alright it's just..."

He grit his teeth. "I need... I need ya to trust me, alright? I ain't dead, whatever it seems like, but if ya fuck this up I probably will be so promise you'll just leave me alone, yeah? Promise me, Mako... Promise!"

"Alright."

"Ta... and I'm sorry, mate, really... I missed ya..."

"Glad you're not dead."

"Me too..." he said, though his words were growing slurred as he fought to keep some grip on the present. "Just... don't freak... ya... p-promised..."

And as the day dawned, Jamie drew to a stop, a final breath rattling out before his eyes glazed over and his body went still and cold.


	13. Chapter 13

When the night finally returned he felt himself coming back together with the usual slowness. His heart thumped in his chest, beats beginning to grow closer and closer together until a steady rhythm found its pace, albeit leisurely by human standards. His eyes drew into focus, blinking sluggishly as the metaphorical gears in his head ground into motion once again. As he collected himself he attempted to assess his situation.

No Satya to hold his hand this time. He had definitely been shifted since the last thing he really remembered processing, because he was tucked into bed with the covers drawn up rather than simply sprawled across the top of it. That was pretty laughable in itself. Sleeping still wasn't the right word for what he did, and it wasn't as if the cold bothered him... but it was certainly better than finding himself burnt to a crisp, or in a mortuary, or a coffin, or any of the other thousands of possibilities. Evidently Mako had listened.

Shouldn't have doubted it at all really, he'd always known he could trust the big lug.

Once he was sure full control of his body had come back Jamie sat up. Then he froze.

Mako was sitting on the end of the bed, staring at him. Jamie stared back.

He laughed, high pitched and sharp. "Don't tell me ya been there all day, mate."

Mako's expression was grave. "You were dead."

"Yeah..." Jamie said awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. "Sort of? I don't know exactly what it looks like since I'm... ya know... not really with it... told ya I'd be alright though, didn't I? And ya didn't call anyone or nothin'."

"You told me not to."

"I know... still, thanks..."

Mako was quiet for a moment. "No rigor mortis."

"Eh?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Bodies. They go stiff after a few hours when they're dead. You never did."

"Huh..." Jamie said, frowning. "Guess that's somethin' to know."

He kicked the covers back, hopping to his feet and giving a quick stretch.

"You gonna tell me what's going on then?" Mako asked, causing him to pause, twisting to regard his friend. Jamie hummed for a moment.

"Dunno where to start really."

"Start with why you were playing dead."

"Oh... don't got much of a choice in the matter, kinda just happens now... whatever I say it's gonna seem crazy, wouldn't blame ya for not believing a lick of it."

Mako met his gaze squarely. "Try me."

So Jamie did. He started, in his usual rambling fashion, with the night he'd made off with the treasure they'd had their eye on, how he'd done such a perfect job and other such self-flattery. Got a little sidetracked, but Mako was good at reminding him to stay on point, and somewhat sheepishly he admitted that after having hidden their prize he'd decided to reward himself with a few drinks and inevitably got a bit too talkative. This led to being cornered by a few less than savory acquaintances, who seemed to think they knew just how to encourage him to share his spoils.

They'd taken his arm. He got a little quiet when he mentioned that part, but quickly breezed past it and onto the appearance of Satya, which he was more happy to recount.

It had all been a bit of a blur to him, but he remembered the important bits, including the fact that he was now apparently a newly fledged member of the undead with a hunger for blood and a habit of turning inanimate during the day. Oh, and he could smell really well. And hear. And see. And heck knew what else, he was still pretty new to the whole thing, but all in all it wasn't so bad.

Satya looked out for him, and she was nice... though he wasn't sure where she was, or how she'd take the fact that he'd possibly accidentally burnt her house down... fucked up everything, didn't he? Sooner or later he ruined it all... a terminal symptom of being Jamison Fawkes.

"So what now?" Mako asked.

Jamie blinked, drawing himself back to the present. "Figure that's obvious, ain't it? Gotta find Satya."

"Do you want to?"

Jamie frowned. "What kinda question is that?"

"Don't have to go back to her if you don't want to, you know," he said slowly. "Wasn't like you had a choice in any of this."

"It's... it's complicated," Jamie said. "Wasn't the worst way that night could've turned out given how it was goin', and she's been teachin' me things, been right nice about the whole situation, honest... don't think I got a problem stickin' around for a while if she'll still have me..."

"Think she won't be happy about the fire?"

"Who would be?" Jamie said with a laugh that tittered off, his expression hardening. "But I gotta find her first... need to tell her 'bout this Reaper bloke anyways, he's trouble and a half... him sniffin' after her? Don't like that at all."

Mako seemed happy enough to accept his, he just nodded. "Alright, so we'll look for her."

"We?"

"Course. Think I'm letting you out my sight so soon after the last time?"

"Ya know I'm practically immortal now? Undead an' all that? It don't... bother you?"

"You're still a little shit without a lick of common sense."

Well, he wasn't wrong there. Jamie grinned. "Wasn't kiddin' before ya know. Missed ya."

Mako gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and a playful knock on the shoulder that quickly sent him into a giggle fit. "Enough of that. You want to find her or not?"

"Yeah... ready when you are."

* * *

It had been a long time since Satya had woken somewhere so confined. It brought back memories, but this time at least the box wasn't locked. She pushed the lid aside and sat up, regarding the hotel room as she finished gathering her senses.

As the Countess had so smugly pointed out a lot of money could afford one whatever oddities they pleased. They had remained completely undisturbed, and no one had questioned the peculiar size of the Countess's luggage, nor her strange choice of hours. Hopefully she had taken steps to ensure the staff's discretion too, but Satya had no desire to interrogate her further on the matter, she should simply be grateful there had been somewhere for her to stay while her own home was unsafe. It was hard to feel a great deal of gratitude toward the Countess however.

Her thoughts were still drawn to Jamie. They had been unable to find him the night before, and she could only pray he had found somewhere to shelter too. Satya refused to consider the alternative.

She got up, smoothing the creases from her dress and running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to comb it. The difference in routine was bothersome, and she found a light frown settling upon her features. Not only the lack of her own home, but the lack of _him_ too... it was troubling how quickly his presence had become familiar.

The Countess's appearance distracted her, the other vampire had somehow already found time to change her outfit and when she walked into the main room of the suite no one would have known she'd been curled up in a box for the last several hours.

"Ah, you're up, _bien_. I was meaning go to ballet tonight before a hunt, 'Swan Lake', a little cliché I'll grant but I have a fondness for it and I heart the local troupe is very talented. Perhaps you would care to accompany me?"

Satya shook her head. "I still need to find Jamie."

She sighed. "Ah, your little stray, yes, still worried about him?"

Irritation curled inside her, and Satya tried her best to temper it. The only sign of her feelings was how rigid she stood. "Of course I'm worried, I think that's perfectly understandable given the circumstances."

The Countess gave a derisive sniff.. "Well, if you want to let it spoil your evening so be it, but I'll have no part of it any longer."

"Are you forgetting that all this is your fault?"

The Countess made a careless, offhand gesture. "You're making assumptions, _ma cherie_ , you do not know how or why he disappeared. For all you know the fool was simply bored. You cannot hold me accountable for _that_."

"Hunters, the Reaper, and you expect me to believe this is entirely unrelated? So you can watch some dance show while this all unfolds?" she demanded.

"I will do as I please, Satya, you should know that by now. But if you do find him, give him my regards. It is pleasant to see you have found something that concerns you other than your little projects."

As much as she would have loved to give a biting retort, Satya was accustomed to granting the Countess a certain leniency. One did not argue long with someone as old as the Countess, it was very much playing with fire. So, she merely nodded, and bid her farewell.

The weather, at least, was better that it last was. A weak breeze still stirred the streets, but nothing more than a mild distraction that tickled her hair and whisked old scents that should have long been lost amidst the damp back into circulation. She sniffed, absently, but there was no trace of Jamie to be found near the Countess's lodgings, not that she had expected there to be.

If he had gone to ground, it stood to reason he would choose a place he was familiar with. Somewhere he considered safe.

With what little she knew of his life before they met, there was only one such place she was aware of. Perhaps that was where he had gone. If he had left of his own free will. If he had not been hurt, or killed, or... but no, that was out of the question. She would find her fledgling, and all would be well. She was resolute.

Striding with purpose she left behind the clean, brightly lit district where those with money indulged and delved into the dirty outskirts of the city where she so often hunted her prey. Her memory was sharp enough that she did not lose her way, shadowing past anyone who strayed across her path until the sight of the block of flats Jamie had led her to only nights before. As disgusting as she remembered, but this was no time for her to lay down her judgement.

She climbed the stairwell in silence. The marks on the battered door were distinct enough she had no need for a number. After brief consideration, she knocked.

There was no response.

Leaning forward she listened carefully for a moment before she took hold of the handle and pushed. With a crack the frame gave and she nudged the door open, stepping inside. Deserted, as she had already assessed, but his smell still lingered... fresh, he had been here recently. That meant he was alright, Jamie was fine, and had found a place to shelter from the sun without her help...

She allowed herself a moment's relief, eyes closed as she composed herself. Jamie was okay.

All that remained was to track him down and admonish him for whatever he'd been up to and warn him of the danger.

Satya straightened, leaving the dirty apartment with quick steps as she descended back to the streets below. The trail of his scent was faint, worn by the elements and mixed with a myriad of other stenches, but experience worked in her favor and she followed diligently. There seemed to be a human accompanying him, his old friend? What had his name been again? It mattered not.

It was almost nostalgic, tracking him through the city much like she had that fateful night...

Then something interrupted her introspection. She paused, eyes narrowed. The sense that something wasn't quite right...

Glancing around she took stock of the street, the glowing lights from cheap takeaway windows, the streak of traffic, the passerbys – from the early night drunks to those just trying to make their way home. It all looked to be in order. Yet something still bothered her.

How was it you spotted hunters? Pick them from the crowd?

Oh, it had been a long time indeed since she'd had the need... but it was the eyes you had to watch out for. Not the dull, blissful ignorance that glazed most of the human population, but something keen, the watchful gaze of a predator seeking its prey in the same way she did.

The woman by the fish and chips stand fit the bill perfectly.

Attempting to act natural Satya quickly memorized her appearance. Young, freckled, spiked brown hair and a cheerful grin, dressed in leggings, shorts, a casual shirt and bomber jacket. She was chatting quite happily to one of the workers, but her attention was clearly divided, and Satya could not be certain if she had been spotted or not.

She walked away with perfect composure, turing off at the nearest opportunity and disappearing into the gloom. It was time to assess her options...

She could force a confrontation, see if she could eliminate the woman, but she had no idea if they were alone, hunters often worked in groups... they were trained to see through shadowing, and always came prepared...

She touched the shoulder of her left arm reflectively, expression turning grim. No, better to avoid this for now... she had Jamie to worry about, finding him was her first priority. She might know what to expect from hunters, but he had no idea, and it would be irresponsible of her to leave her fledgling so vulnerable.

Satya turned, whisking away at unnatural speed as she fled, attempting to conceal any trace of her passing as she moved. Being followed was not an option.


	14. Chapter 14

It was impossible to relax, to move through the night with her usual confidence as worry pricked at her heels. While she saw no sign of pursuit Satya remained unsatisfied. She had found her life in this city quite comfortable. A pleasant home, no others of her kind in the area to irk her, no trouble with hunters, she had been largely free to do as she chose, and had always been careful not to draw unwanted attention. It was meant to be a peaceful retreat after India, and Rio, and for a while it had been... her years of solace seemed to have drawn to an end though.

There were too many variables, too many new elements. Jamie himself had been an peculiar uncertainty to allow into her life, that whim alone stirred things up... yet there was more at work than she was happy to contend with. The Countess she expected would only linger for a brief time, but whether Reaper or the hunters would do the same she could not say.

She did her best to quieten her concerns, focusing instead on following Jamie's trail. He had managed to wander quite a way, all the way back to her home in fact. She paused for a minute to briefly reexamine the structure, taking in the cracked glass and blackened walls and the clogging scent of smoke that permeated each room. The damage had not spread throughout the entire home, but still she knew with a faint melancholy that she would be leaving it behind. Having the place fixed would not be an option, she detested the idea of allowing humans into her dwelling, and the fire would have drawn attention. She supposed it was inevitable sooner or later, but she had not been expecting to leave it so soon.

She did not indulge her sentimentality long, that was hardly her way, Jamie's scent had left and she had no wish to fall behind. It only took her a minute to collect a few surviving valuables and then she bid the place farewell. Satya's clipped steps led her away, and she did not glance back.

Where was he going though? She could not make sense of it, of what he might be seeking, why he did not simply stay put somewhere sensible and wait... as strange as it was, she almost felt as if he was doing it to irritate her, but she doubted it.

He wasn't returning to the less savory district he had originated from, instead traversing the cleaner, better lit streets, and she could not fathom what he thought he was doing...

It wasn't until she was almost upon it that it struck her. He was returning to the light show...

She could not imagine he was doing it simply for his own entertainment, she was certain, so certain that he could only be looking for _her_... that he had found the only other point of reference she had given him, the only other significant place that they had shared. It was a bittersweet realization.

She increased her pace, following the trail as it grew stronger, and it was in an alleyway between the third and fourth display that she found him.

He was walking with a large companion, a human of monumental size with silvery hair that was bound back in a ponytail, and chatting away amiably as he normally did.

Satya found she did not quite know how to interrupt. Jamie must have sensed something though because he paused, then turned, his eyes widening at the sight of her.

"Satya!"

He closed the distance between them and before she could even process the movement he'd swept her up, his arms crushing her in a tight embrace. "Wasn't sure I'd be seein' ya again!"

For a moment she was speechless. All she could think of was his arms around her, the lean muscle of the chest she was pressed against, and how very close they both were in that instance. It was unexpected, and she found herself completely at a loss for what to do. She'd never held any reservations when it came to touching him, but she hadn't expected him to hold her with such enthusiasm, such undisguised delight. He was here, safe, and tangible, and she could not help but feel strangely warm with all of her concerns brushed aside by the sound of his giddy laugh.

Tentatively, she allowed her own arms to close around him and give a gentle squeeze before she pulled back. "Whyever would you think that?"

He seemed to remember himself, quickly disengaging and running an awkward hand through his hair. His grin was lopsided. "Well... bit of a hectic night last night, wasn't sure where to find ya after the house burnt down, went back there earlier but there was no sign of ya... Wasn't sure you'd be wantin' to see me, truth be told..."

"Foolish," she muttered, and caught his grin widen. "Why _did_ my house burn down, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh... that's a long story. _May_ have had somethin' to do with it."

Satya lifted one, slow eyebrow. "You burnt my house down?"

He winced. "A bit?" He was watching her carefully, shifting from foot to foot. "Are ya mad?"

She should be. She should be _livid_ , and yet... and yet for whatever reason that suddenly anxious expression on his face refused to allow anger to brew within her, all that really seemed to matter was that she had him back... Satya refused to believe she was turning soft, yet this time, she thought she could let it go. Just this once.

"Peeved," she eventually decided, "but it is hardly the first house I have owned, nor likely to be the last, even if it was very nice. I'm sure you must have had your reasons... and you _better_ have had, I do expect an explanation. But first, why don't you introduce me?"

He stood up straight, apparently only just remembering his companion. "Oh, right!"

Jamie held his arms out in a sweeping gesture toward his friend. "This here is me good friend Mako! Great conversationalist that one." He swiveled, this time gesturing to her. "And this is Satya, the vampire lady. Told ya about her, remember?"

The man, Mako, grunted his confirmation. He looked Satya up and down, and after a moment's consideration stuck one of his massive hands out to shake. Satya stared at it.

She was sorely tempted to refuse, having no obligation to any human nor any wish to share contact with a stranger, but she supposed... she supposed with the way Jamie was watching her so expectantly it wouldn't hurt. She took his hand delicately, and gave it a single shake before releasing it. They both seemed to accept this to be enough.

"So, I got some shit to tell ya," Jamie began excitedly, but she cut him off.

"Likewise, but perhaps it would be better in private? If you would excuse us, Mako?"

Jamie looked puzzled. "What for? Ya can trust him, ya got my word on that."

"Humor me?"

He still appeared uncertain, but Mako himself didn't seem to care much what they did, and just turned away. "I'll be over here," he told them flatly, lumbering a short distance away toward the end of the alley.

"Ya didn't have to do that," Jamie muttered once he was out of earshot. "Ya _can_ trust him..."

"Forgive me if I am not as closely acquainted with him as you, this is a matter for our kind and not humans you happen to be fond of."

He opened his mouth to retort, but she placed a finger across it, silencing him. She had no time to argue. "The Countess informs me there are hunters in the area... they are dangerous enough to deal with, and not something I would wish for you to encounter so early on, I cannot guarantee your safety. I have also been informed that Reaper may be near... it is best to avoid him if at all possible, and I am beginning to think that for now-"

Jamie caught her wrist and pulled her finger from his lips. "Reaper? Yeah, I know the fucker, he turned up at your house last night, was lookin' for ya."

"At _my_ house?" she asked in shock.

Jamie nodded, releasing his grip. "Yeah, and we... may have got off on the wrong foot, didn't mean... didn't mean to burn the place, but he had it out for me, reckon he planned on killin' me. Said he fancied a snack... didn't think that was possible, ya know, vampires eatin' vampires... figured we was off the menu."

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Satya murmured distractedly, "but Reaper is something of an oddity. Him and another of our kind conducted some experiments a few decades ago, it left him with some unique characteristics."

"Really? And what does he want with ya?"

Satya pursed her lips. "I could not say..."

Jamie frowned, but he appeared to accept she had no explanation to offer him. His posture slouched slightly. "So what do we do?"

Satya pondered. There were several approaches she could think of, but things were different now... it wasn't just herself she was planning for, there was Jamie to consider too. She had promised him that she would protect and teach him in return for his obedience, and Satya would not go back on a promise. She may be inexperienced when it came to dealing with fledglings, but she understood enough to know her duty. She would not be one of those sires who abandoned their own. A commitment once made could not be taken back. As long as he needed her she would be there, and his survival was her priority for the moment.

"For now it might be safest to remain out of sight," she told him, "I shall see if I can arrange travel for tomorrow night and we can relocate somewhere better until all this blows over."

"Leave? Just like that?" he asked in disbelief.

"I have no particular desire to abandon my territory, but I have you to consider too... it is not fair to entangle you in this. I can always return later, or find somewhere new."

That seemed to give him pause. He froze, opened his mouth to speak, but then faltered and closed it again, staring at her. When he finally managed to speak his voice was low and soft. "Ya don't gotta do that for me ya know, I can take care of meself."

Satya was about to give dismissive retort, but she hesitated herself this time. It felt wrong. Why she could not say, but a peculiar certainty crept over her and she reached up to clasp his jaw like she had done in the past, and make certain his flighty gaze focused solely on her. "I would regret it deeply if anything were to happen to you, you do understand that?"

There was that stupid grin of his again, why was it so endearing? It had no right to be.

"Well... if ya say so..."

"Good. Then the matter is settled," she said abruptly releasing him and turning away. "Until tomorrow night though we should find somewhere to stay, the house is not an option any longer."

"Ya wanna come round the flat?"

The question caught her off guard, and Satya half spun, a hand on her hip and both eyebrows raised.

"That a no?" Jamie asked.

"I was thinking more that I might rent a hotel room and some form of cover for now."

"Ain't no need for that, Mako won't mind and I already patched up somewhere for the morning... besides, ya can't trust hotel staff, but Mako's a safe bet. Any hunters or whatever come crawling and he'll tell 'em to shove off. Already told him most of what we are and he don't seem to mind."

As dearly as she wanted to refuse he did have some good points. They were perfectly vulnerable during the day, they had no way of protecting themselves and there was only so much either of them could do to ensure they would remain undisturbed... Mako would not be troubled by the daylight though. Some vampires kept humans for that exact reason, called thralls, so that someone could protect them should their location be discovered. A hunter that struck during the day would spell certain death for any vampire unguarded...

Satya did not trust Mako. She did not trust any humans in all honestly, but it did not take much to see that Jamie clearly trusted the other man. While she had limited faith in his judgement, she supposed it was true that he had not harmed Jamie the day prior, his continued existence was proof of that... they had a history together, and humans were sentimental creatures. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with taking advantage of old friendships?

"I... suppose you make a fair argument," she relented.

"Too right!" Jamie beamed. "Besides, you've been lettin' me stay at yours, only proper I be accommodatin' too."

"If you would call your residence accommodations," she said, but Jamie just cackled at her jab.

Either way, the quicker they were off the streets and out of sight the better. She allowed him to explain the gist of things to Mako and they set off, her taking point to scan for anyone she deemed suspicious. Jamie shared none of her caution, but that was only natural. The reality of the situation probably hadn't set in for him, how was he to be expected to handle hunters and such when he was barely turned? It was an unfortunate start to a new life.

As relieved as she was when they finally reached Mako's flat Satya was forced to remember quite what a state the place was in. The fact she had broken the door earlier didn't help.

Mako just sighed. "You deal with it, I'm going to bed."

"Oh, that's right," Jamie said, "it's late, ain't it? Kinda forgot... guess regular people need to sleep still, ha..."

He looked almost somber at the realization.

"Just don't make a racket. Vampires I can deal with, but if you keep me up I swear to f-"

"Yeah yeah, ya go get some shuteye ya cranky thing," Jamie said, waving him off. Once his friend had departed he clapped his hands together, looking about. "Right! Guess I better fix the door. You just... uh... do ya want anythin'? I mean, I'd offer ya a drink but, ya know..."

"I am fine," she told him, trying to decide on the least filthy place to sit.

Spotting her dilemma he leaped into action, snatching one of the cushions off the couch and giving it a thorough beating before flipping the thing upside down and replacing it. Upon inspection Satya supposed it would have to do. She swept her skirt out and perched on the proffered seat, offering a short thanks.

Jamie seemed happy enough that she was satisfied, and after faffing about for another couple of minutes he went to dig out some spare tools and set to work on the door.

While he was occupied Satya set to moving funds about with her phone, accessing several accounts that she had not touched in a long while. Immediately they needed enough for transport and lodging, but soon enough she would need to look into purchasing a new home and replacing all that she had left behind. It wouldn't hurt to throw a little extra into immediate funds to buy Jamie some new clothes, she thought to herself. Simply because his own attire was all either ragged or stained, and it was a distraction, there was nothing wrong with correcting that. She just wanted to spare herself some minor irritation.

Her projects would need to be put on hold too. She had digital backups of all her work, but until she had the right environment to continue in it needed to wait. She quickly typed up a notice for her clients, citing health issues as the reason for the delay, and automated it to send the next morning.

The only other thing was to arrange transport itself. Once that was done there was little more to attend to. She talked to Jamie as he fixed up the door, filling him in on her night and letting him regale her in turn with his encounter with Reaper and the events that transpired, but when that was done she lapsed into silence with her own thoughts.

When Jamie finished his work on the door he was likewise unoccupied, but Jamie never stayed still for long. He spent most of the night bringing her various contraptions he had built to show, always so expectant when he awaited her reaction. Satya was beginning to suspect he quite liked praise, or at the very least attention, and it was with some amusement that she indulged him.

As morning neared though he seemed to remember something, and disappeared for a while, and she heard him shifting things about in one of the rooms. Was it possible that he was... tidying? It seemed miracles did happen.

"So..." he said when he reappeared, "been sleepin' in your bed for the last while, ya okay sharin' mine?"

"I believe we established that we do not sleep. Are you attempting to be suggestive?"

"Course not," he scoffed, though Satya did not believe him for an instant. "I kinda prefer bein' dead on a bed to a floor, figure ya might feel the same."

"I have no problem with sharing."

He seemed reassured by this, and when dawn finally drew close he beckoned her almost shyly to his room. It was a tiny, cramped space, barely enough for the bed and a few other items. The bedding was at least clean, although it smelt of oddly musty in a way that Satya suspected meant it had been forgotten in a cupboard somewhere until recently. She settled on the side nearest wall while he checked that the place was blocked up properly.

Then the springs creaked and the bed dipped as he eased himself down beside her. A silence grew, and she knew instinctively that he was working up to a question. She tipped her head to the side, taking in his expression and confirming what she already suspected.

"What is it?" she asked.

Jamie averted his gaze. "How long is this gonna be for?"

Satya frowned, trying to make sense of the question. "What do you mean?"

"Well," he spoke quietly, "ya said you'd teach me and look out for me and stuff until I was ready to move on, so when's that?"

"Do you want to leave?"

"No," he said hurriedly. "No... I like stayin' with ya."

"Then do not worry about it," Satya told him. She meant that to be comforting, but he still appeared troubled. Uncertain quite where she had gone wrong she settled for a gesture she was sure he would understand and offered him her hand. That, at least, he took without hesitation, curling his fingers through her own. It was ludicrous how quickly this had turned into routine... yet she could not find it in herself to regret it.


	15. Chapter 15

When the night returned it was with the warm recollection that Satya had forgiven him. That somehow they were together once more, and whatever they might be to one another she had no intentions of leaving just yet. That they could find their way through this side by side. It seemed too good to be true...

Perhaps it was, because as his mind began to process his surroundings he became aware that something was wrong...

Satya was no longer holding his hand.

That was surprising enough, but worse was the realization that he no longer appeared to be in bed, but instead lying on cold, hard concrete, and as his vision swam into focus none of his surroundings were familiar.

Jamie found the strength to heave himself into a sitting position, glancing around frantically until he finally found Satya only a few feet away. Her golden eyes were narrowed, lips tight.

"What-" Jamie began, but he was cut off by the sound of footsteps.

He swiveled his head, attempting to shake off the lingering sluggishness of his body as he focussed and tried to make sense of the situation. The room appeared to be a basement of some kind, too dark for human sight though he could still see fairly clearly, and a series of metal bars had been set in the concrete to form a cage around them. How he'd got here he didn't know, but it did not bode well. Clearly someone intended to trap them here. Worse yet, his prosthetic arm was missing. Satya still had hers, but perhaps they had not been able to work out how to detach it. Either way... either way this was pretty fucked up. Where was Mako?

He almost voiced that question, but Satya spoke first.

"Stay quiet," she warned him, her voice a low hush.

Jamie blinked, but nodded tersely, gritting his teeth as the footsteps drew closer. Then then door swung open and a light flicked on, causing him to shield his eyes momentarily as he adjusted.

"Howdy there, looks like the sun's gone down, eh? Been waitin' an awful long time for you two," a man drawled, a thick American accent lacing his words. When Jamie finally looked up the stranger dipped his hat at him. There was a smug look about him, one thumb hooked under his belt, and a cigar sticking out the corner of his mouth. His hair and beard were brown and his skin tanned, but for all his bravado he didn't seem anything special to Jamie. Not bad looking, true, but hardly intimidating. In fact, between the ridiculous hat and the accent he found if anything he was less worried than he had been before.

"How kind of you to go to the trouble," Satya replied primly, folding her hands in her lap. "I imagine you must have built this setup for us too, that could not have been easy on such short notice."

"Sure wasn't," the man said, "cost a fortune too, ain't any way to be thrifty when it comes to blessed silver. Anythin' for you though, darlin'."

"I see. Do enlighten us though, I presume there is a reason we are here and not simply a pile of ashes. Perhaps you could save us some time and skip to the part where you tell?"

"Impatient, eh?" The man took a puff of his cigar, leaning back against the wall. "Well, you're right this ain't the normal procedure. Honestly didn't expect it myself either, wasn't you we were lookin' for round these parts, just lucky I guess... there's been no record of activity from you for years, you disappeared off the grid. Recognized you from a picture though, you're one of Vishkar right?"

Satya's expression hardened.

"See, we know about them. And we'd love to know more, if you would be so kind," the man continued in an almost friendly tone.

"So information on Vishkar in exchange for our lives?"

He shook his head apologetically. "Can't rightly promise that I'm afraid, and you wouldn't believe me if I did, but I can promise to make it quick."

"And if not?"

He shrugged. "Then it won't be quick."

Satya looked unimpressed. Jamie felt much the same. Somehow he didn't see how anyone could feel motivated to share information if it only spelled their death, and as threats went the man wasn't nearly colourful enough. Jamie was well acquainted with coulourful threats, having been on the receiving end of them most of his life, and he was tempted to show the man precisely how they worked.

"So..." the man asked after a moment, "anythin' ya want to say? What about you there, pal? Got somethin' to share?"

Satya just glared back at him without a word. Jamie glanced between the two of them, but when he caught her eye she shot him a quick warning look and he fought down the urge to speak, swallowing any retort he might have for the stranger.

The man sighed. "Alright darlin', I get the message. Could save us all a lot of time and pain though, just think it through. We'll be checkin' back so let me know when you're ready."

He tipped his hat again and departed the room, flicking the light off and swinging the door shut behind him.

The sound of his boots faded on stone steps, and as soon as Jamie was sure he was a good distance away he turned to Satya. "Bleedin' hell, what's _this_?"

"It would appear," she said slowly, "that your friend was not quite as trustworthy as you thought."

"What, Mako? Nah, no, he'd never... there's no fuckin' way this is his fault, they must've... heck, if they hurt him..." he said, lips curling back in a snarl at the thought. Mako would be okay, because of course he would be, he was an unstoppable force of nature, nothing could phase a bloke like that, but what if... what if this time...

"Whatever the case he is not our concern for now. Our own predicament is more pressing," Satya said, drawing him out of his thoughts. He almost snapped at her for how carelessly she spoke, as if it were insignificant, but he contained himself.

Mako wasn't Satya's friend, and Satya... as long as he'd known her he hadn't seen her close to anyone. Perhaps she didn't really understand, perhaps she was just in a tetchy mood too having woken up in a cage, whatever the case starting an argument now wasn't going to help them. What mattered was escape.

"Yeah, about that... how are we getting' out? Can ya just... break these bars or somethin'?" he asked, studying them as he spoke. They looked thick, but whether that was a match for vampire strength or not he didn't know.

"Normal metal perhaps, but not-"

Jamie was already reaching with his single hand though, grasping tightly. Then he yelped, shooting back as a sudden pain seared his skin with burning heat, causing him to shudder and curl in on himself as he clutched it to his chest.

Satya sighed. "Not this metal," she concluded, "it's blessed silver, I would advise you do not touch it."

"Blessed?" Jamie demanded. "Thought ya said none of that religious stuff hurt."

"I do not mean literally. Hunters have a way of alchemically treating the metal, we refer to the process as blessing."

"Well that's just bloody confusin'," he muttered.

"Come here," Satya said, beckoning him closer. Miserably Jamie obeyed, shifting across the concrete floor until they sat side by side, inches apart. She took his hand in her lap and examined it intently. "You only scalded it, it should be fine soon enough. Consider it a learning lesson. You should be careful, make sure you are never cut by this stuff. It will not heal like it should."

"Don't see why they couldn't just chain us up or somethin', a cage seems a bit excessive."

"Chains we could probably break, and if not we could always break ourselves instead, which makes us difficult to contain."

He gave her a quizzical look. "What now?"

"If your wrists were cuffed, it is your hand that prevents you from slipping free, yes?" she asked.

"I guess..."

"Then to escape, you need simply tear it loose."

Jamie squinted at her. "Are ya suggestin'... are ya sayin' if someone cuffed ya you'd chew your own hand off?"

"If that is what it takes. It should grow back," she said without a drop of humor.

"Crikey... we ain't gonna be doin' that now I hope?"

"Of course not, it would not help in this situation. Although you may always do so if you wish to put it to the test."

"Nah, nah I'm good..." he said hurriedly, with a half-hearted laugh, "but what are we gonna do? Just sit here for the rest of eternity?"

"Well we are under a time limit," she said, and her tone turned grim, "I doubt they have any plans to feed us."

"And what happens if we ain't fed?"

Satya was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating what she wanted to say. She still held his hand in her lap, and she traced the lines of it absently, her cool fingers gentle on his still wounded skin. "Without sustenance we grow less and less lifelike," she said without looking up. "It begins as it normally does, your pulse slows further, you become colder and turn pale, and the hunger will manifest. The longer you wait, the weaker you become, and the more all consuming that hunger grows until it is all you can think of and all that remains is the primal desire to find the nearest human and tear them apart. Then, if you still cannot satisfy that hunger you will wither and turn catatonic in a hibernation of sorts. If a human is not unfortunate enough to stumble upon you and stir you, then after several weeks you will perish."

"So we have until then?" he asked.

"No, I expect the moment we begin to lose our coherence to the hunger they shall accept that we will not be able to provide them with what they want to know and eradicate us."

Ah, that didn't sound great. "So how long do we have then?"

Satya tipped her head to the side, considering the question. "A couple of weeks, perhaps, give or take."

"And ya can't tell 'em about Vishkar cos then they'll just kill us anyway? Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here?"

Satya sighed again. "I cannot simply whisk us out of here, Jamie, I am thinking," she told him. "Until I have a solution you must observe patience. I have no intention of staying here, I can assure you of that."

"I don't even know who the hell Vishkar is..."

"Yet they do not know that, since they do not know you they assume that because of your association with me that you might, and it is best to keep it that way. I do not like to think what they would do if they considered you expendable... Vishkar is the only reason we still appear to be alive, under normal circumstances hunters would never spare us... I did not expect to owe them anything more..."

She trailed off, a distant look in her eyes that troubled him.

"So you and Vishkar... I'm gatherin' there's some story there, right?"

Satya released his hand, shifting back slightly. "There is, but not for now."

The absence of her touch stung more than he had expected, it had been quite pleasant to have her fingers linger on him for so long. Yet he had pried, and now he was turned away yet again. Well, Jamie supposed with faint bitterness, it was her own business, she didn't owe him an answer. Maybe one day she'd feel like sharing... provided they survived that long...

He drew his knees up to his chest, hunkering down with his stump and other arm folded as best as he could manage over his legs. "Guess we're gonna be here a while then."

"Until I think of something, yes."

His face scrunched up in irritation. "So... don't suppose you're a fan of I-spy?"


	16. Chapter 16

Crawling in with the dusk Satya became immediately aware that all was not right. Long gone was the cramped little room Jamie and her had shared, gone was the sunken mattress and the musty sheets, the tang of burnt fabric and rust, the distant sounds that reached her keen ears from the nearby flats. Instead there was only hard concrete beneath her, and silver bars blocking her in.

She sat up, eyes flicking around as she quickly assessed the situation. Jamie was with her at least, and seemed unharmed, though he had not stirred yet and still lay slumped and unresponsive on the ground with his blond hair sticking out in all directions. She brushed it back from his face gently. Just to calm herself, Satya thought, to create a little order in the chaos of their new predicament.

A quick examination of the bars told her all she needed to know – this was the work of hunters. More puzzling though was the fact that both her and her fledgling seemed to still be alive, as alive as they ever were anyway, and she did not understand why. Hunters were not in the habit of taking prisoners. Hunters lived for the kill, to eradicate their prey thoroughly and without hesitation, they were as merciless as she was herself. Whether this divergence from the norm boded well or not had yet to be seen... she suspected the latter...

Jamie began to rouse, animation coming back to him as he caught up to the world around him. Satya's expression was grim, and when his eyes finally found hers his confusion was plain to see, but she had nothing reassuring to offer him. Footsteps were already approaching.

"Stay quiet," she warned instead, the best thing she could think of. Whatever happened, she would protect him, but she could not risk him running his mouth at such a precarious time.

As the door swung wide and the lights flicked on she scrutinized her opponent.

The man she did not recognize, but that was not important. What mattered were his words. Vishkar... ah, she had not expected them to come back to haunt her so soon... yet as hard as she tried she could not escape the fact that it was only because of them that Jamie and her had been spared. It made her insides twist in odd ways, complicated emotions that she had no desire to unravel. Had she been more fanciful she might have called it fate, to find herself connected even now despite everything.

Satya refused to believe. A coincidence, nothing more. And one she supposed there was no harm in exploiting. If it kept them alive a little longer then there was no harm.

Outwardly she did not allow herself to appear phased by any of it. When she gave no sign of answering any of his questions the hunter soon left them, the room dipping into darkness as he flicked the lights off, not that it mattered much with her sight. They were alone...

At least... at least she still had Jamie. Was it selfish of her to be glad to have him here? Perhaps, but he would have to begrudge it to her. Vishkar had a way of making her feel disgustingly vulnerable, and as well as she hid it Satya was unsettled. Frightened, even. But those were feeling she buried, for they were of no service. She needed to remain focused. She needed to find a way to get both of them out...

Alas, no immediate solution presented itself.

She was forced to pass the night as best she could, wrapped in her own thoughts. Jamie had as much distaste for it as her, but it was more outwardly apparent. He was restless on most occasions, but the limited space only seemed to spur his waspish nature. He fidgeted, and fussed, and tapped away at the ground, and pulled at his hair, and muttered to himself, and talked without end even when Satya had nothing to contribute. It was a poor environment for him.

All she could do was curb her own irritation with his state.

Halfway through the night however a distraction made its way down to the gloomy confines of the basement. The steps, when Satya listened, were too light to be the man from before and the gait was different, spiked with more energy.

Jamie must have heard it too because his head whipped up and he stopped picking at the tear in his jeans, looking at the door expectantly.

When it swung open Satya watched with curiosity as a girl slipped in. She shouldn't have been surprised. It was the one she had seen the night before, further confirmation that the hunters were working together. That made two of them, but was that the entirety of their party? Or were there more she had yet to encounter? She doubted they would be obliging enough to tell her.

The girl, or young woman really, switched the light on and stared. She was smiling, but it did not look cruel, simply inquisitive as she edged closer to the cage, pausing to puff a stray lock of her brown hair aside. She did not speak at first and Satya likewise remained guardedly silent.

Then, when she was only a few feet away, the girl sat down cross legged on the ground opposite them.

"Can you talk?" she asked.

Satya looked scornful, and Jamie just looked befuddled.

"I've never spoken to a vampire," she continued. "Well, I mean I've... you know, but never talked to one before..."

"I've never had much of a conversation with a hunter," Satya responded coldly, "I normally don't give them time."

The girl just giggle. "Ooh, scary!"

Satya rolled her eyes, having no intention of giving her the satisfaction of a retort. She was not here to entertain. If nothing else she would maintain her dignity.

"Can I ask what it's like?"

Satya ignored her, folding her arms and angling herself away. Jamie, unfortunately, still seemed interested. The fool would likely latch onto any distraction he could find down here, and the girl was far too tempting given their boredom so far.

"What what's like?" he asked, inching a little closer to the bars.

The girl brightened at his response. "Oh, you know, Vampirehood... vampiredom... whatever you call it... do you feel dead, or like you were before?"

He scratched his head. "Eh, it's... different, I guess? Wouldn't say I feel dead in any way, just got a bit of a different perspective, still mostly the same bloke I was. Kinda new to the whole vampire thing meself though, wouldn't call me an expert."

"Ha, kinda new to my thing too... guess we aren't so different."

"If ya feel that way, hows about lettin' us out? Whatd'ya say?" he asked, and although he seemed to be joking their was a barely perceptible trace of hopefulness lurking behind his jovial tone.

"Sorry, luv, no can do," she said cheerfully, "you _do_ kill people."

Jamie shrugged, apparently willing to concede that with a faint trace of guilt. "Don't got much choice in the matter. If ya ain't willin' to let us out, think ya could get us somethin' to do? Like... drag a TV down, a pack of cards, heck I'd settle for a bloody crossword."

"Don't think Jesse would be pleased, but I'll think about it," she promised, "although you could just tell him what he wants."

"So ya can get it over with an' stake the both of us? Our company really that bad?"

"Well, you don't seem bad, for a vampire. But like I said, you kill people. Can't go excusing that," she pointed out, hands set on her knees and rocking back slightly in an almost childish manner with a similar energy to the kind that so frequently had Jaime jiggling his leg or tapping absently with his fingers. Satya found it exceptionally grating.

"Fair enough... say, ya got a name?"

"Lena," the girl said.

"Nice ta meet ya... well, kinda... would prefer if it were under different circumstance and ya weren't so keen on killin' us..." he said, carefully stretching his left hand out through the bars and offering it to shake. "Name's Jamie."

Lena looked at his hand and giggled. "Sorry, but I'm not that stupid."

Jamie frowned, apparently only just realizing that this could be interpreted as some kind of ploy. Knowing Jamie he probably had genuinely been intending to give her hand a friendly shake, but if it had been Satya she knew once she had a grip on the young woman she wouldn't have let go.

Slowly Jamie pulled his arm back, smiling a little sadly. "No worries, won't take it personally."

"Just don't try that trick on Jesse, he wouldn't take it so well."

"Noted. Jesse... he's the bloke from before, right? Smokes, dumb hat?"

Lena rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't even get me _started_ on the hat."

"It just the two of you then?"

"Yeah," she said, then froze as if she realized she'd said a bit too much. "Well, for now anyway," she amended hastily, "the others will get here once they've taken care of their own stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Hunter stuff." She pulled a face. "You ask too many questions you know, that's what I came down here to do to you."

Jamie chuckled. "Can't help it, it's just the way I am... say, give me just one more, eh? Wanna know what happened to the bloke at the place you nabbed us from. Big guy, human? Ring any bells?"

"Sorry, luv, don't think I should be telling you any more."

Jamie slumped slightly, but he still tried to grin despite the way it didn't quite carry the usual enigmatic energy Satya was used to. "Worth a shot... can't blame me for tryin'."

"If your only purpose here is to torment us and satisfy your own curiosity then I'd advise you to leave," Satya said, flashing her teeth in warning.

Lena huffed, evidently not cowed in the slightest. She gave Satya a look, as if sizing her up, then elected to ignore her, focusing on Jamie instead and chatting away as if it were just the two of them.

That stung more than any insult or threat that could have been thrown her way, but Satya eventually decided to ignore her in turn, folding her arms and turning her back on both Lena and Jamie.

How long this went on for she didn't know, but when the girl finally departed and the lights flicked off once more the sudden quiet was marked.

"Hey," Jamie said softly.

When this incited no response he shuffled closer, attempting to peer round so he could catch a glimpse of her expression.

He furrowed his brows, lips tightening as he appeared to mull over the possibilities. "Ya mad by an chance?" he hazarded. "Don't like me talking to her? Ya not... Jealous?"

Satya snorted at that. "Jealous? _Certainly_ not. I do not like her though, whatever else she is a hunter, and it is her duty to kill us."

"Yeah, but it ain't like there's any harm in talkin', they already wanna kill us so it ain't like we can make it any worse so long as ya don't tell 'em that Vishkar stuff, and it ain't like I know any of that anyways."

"I simply have no desire to be friendly towards those who spend their lives killing our kind," she said loftily, tilting her chin up in defiance.

"To be fair, we kinda spend our existence killin' their kind, so it balances out, right?"

"That is not how it works," Satya said irritably. No, now was not the time to start an argument with him... she needed to remember to be tolerant, lenient toward her fledgling. She closed her eyes and stilled herself.

"Sorry," he said after a moment, his voice low, earnest. "Ya want me to stop talkin' to her if she comes down again?"

Satya hesitated. "No... for all my distaste for her, she seems willing to let slip details about her and the other one, and that may be to our advantage. It is possible she might let slip something of use."

Jamie brightened. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes. However, it is also entirely possible that she has come down here to talk for a very similar reason, to see if you or I might be equally as careless."

"Some good cop bad cop business?"

"If that is how you choose to think of it. In any case, you may talk to her, but be careful of what you tell her..."

"Gotcha." He finger-gunned, grinning back and Satya felt her lingering irritation fade away. Why did he seem to be able to do that?

The girl did not return for the rest of the night, and nor did the man. Whether they were sleeping or simply saw no use in further conversation she did not know but regardless it made remaining hours tedious despite Jaime's best efforts.

There was no way for them to judge the time in the prison of the basement, but both of them could feel the dawn when it began to approach.

"Guess we got no choice but to be dead on the floor now," he said with a laugh that sounded a little too shrill for her liking.

"It will make no difference to you soon enough," she promised, lying down on the concrete and smoothing her dress out into perfect order. It did feel wrong in a way, a reminder that they did not truly sleep, removing the last aspect of humanity from the routine. Truly it did not matter where they rested so long as it was dark, but it was always more comforting to settle somewhere pleasant, to pretend that they were not as indifferent and unmoving as furniture during the day.

Jamie followed suit, lying down beside her and offering his hand. She took it, giving a gentle squeeze.

"They could kill us at any moment, right?" he said quietly. "And there ain't nothin' we can do..."

"Yes. Does that frighten you?" she asked.

Jamie was silent for a moment. "How could it not?" His hand tightened slightly around her own. "Don't much like bein' helpless... bein' at someone's mercy, cos given my luck it doesn't tend to turn out well..."

His anxiety was understandable. Had she been as new to this existence as him she would have felt the same, decades of coping with the nature of her existence had simply left her more apathetic. Satya had long ago accepted the vulnerability of the day. It had always been an unpleasant reality though, especially under such circumstances.

Hesitantly, Satya nestled in closer, until her head rested upon his chest where the slow and methodical beat of his heart was loud enough to fill her ears. Jamie let out a small sound of surprise. She wasn't entirely sure it was what she wanted, nor what he wanted, yet something about it felt inexplicably right, and when his arm closed around her and held her close she raised no objection. If they were to face such uncertainty, such vulnerability in the lions den no less, at least they faced it together.

"I am sorry I could not protect you from this," she murmured, and he uttered a 'tsk'.

"No need to go appologisin'," he said, a little more confidence working its way into his voice, "ain't a lot of people who'd care enough to give a shit one way or another about me, so... I appreciate it... I do... but there ain't no way any of this is your fault."

"Perhaps not, but this seems a poor start to make."

"Well then... guess ya just gonna have to find some way to make it up to me."

No doubt he meant it suggestively given his sultry tone, but Satya ignored his teasing. "I suppose I should start by working a way out of here."

"Eh, that ain't a bad idea..." he said, words trailing off as his strength ebbed away, the arm around her loosening slightly though it still maintained its hold. "If we're still here tomorrow night, I'm sure you'll think of somethin'..."

He had nothing more to say, and nor did she, Satya simply listened to the thrum of his heart as it slowed, and slowed, and slowed, and drifted away in the empty space between each beat as she too failed to keep up with the world.

* * *

The hunters did not kill them that morning. Nor the next. Each night they found themselves in the same dingy basement, behind the same silver bars, and each nigh the hunter names Jesse would descend the steps to see if they were any more likely to relinquish the information he sought. They were not.

Satya remained obstinately silent during his visits, and all the routine seemed to spark was a growing frustration on both sides. Jamie, at least, had Lena's visits to look forward to.

The pair of them chatted along quite pleasantly despite their differences, if Satya had not been painfully aware of their situation she might have considered them friends.

Funnily enough, however, she did note that he was never in the least flirtatious with her. She had thought that his occasionally suggestive comments were simply a part of Jamie's nature, but in Lena's presence they were conspicuously absent. Satya wasn't sure what to make of that. Perhaps a part of him was still distantly aware of her profession even if he largely seemed to ignore it. Perhaps he was trying to be on his best behavior when she was around in the hopes of earning enough sympathy to persuade the girl to release them... although if that were the case he should really stop making so many dreadful puns and cackling at his own jokes. As oddly endearing as Satya found it she suspected most people rightfully considered it annoying.

Whatever it was she did not want to begin dissecting the possibilities in their current surroundings.

Instead she dutifully counted the days as they passed, keeping track as best she could.

Not needing the toilet was one convenience, although there was still the issue of the occasionally regurgitated blood. Jesse had simply grimaced when he'd discovered that, and sent Lena down with some newspaper to throw over the mess.

The indignity of it stung but she kept her head high. They may cage her like an animal, but Satya would be dammed if she allowed them to make her feel like one. This was only temporary, she liked to remind herself, as soon as she was out she'd tear these hunters to pieces and take Jamie somewhere none of this would trouble them again...

Yet despite the time passing she grew no closer to a solution. The concrete itself had silver set below it, so digging out was not an option. She briefly considered seeing if she could rend herself into small enough pieces to fit through the bars, but that was foolish considering that decapitation normally spelled death for all but the oldest vampires and her skull would not squeeze through anyway. Procuring the keys was another idea, but while Lena normally sat close it was not quite close enough to grab her, and Jesse rarely moved far from the stairs. Neither were careless enough to allow themselves to be tempted nearer.

They did not have long though, they needed a way out before their hunger caught up to them. She needed a ploy of some kind, yet there was no logical reason for the hunters to allow her the upper hand. Was there any answer? If she were smarter, if she had not been so careless in the first place... had she failed him so utterly? For all her promises that they would find a way out, a seed of doubt grew inside her with each passing night.

Jamie had fed most recently, which was comforting, and being more used to the hunger she could endure it for longer but she could already feel the cold creeping into her body, the faint ache at her jaw that signaled she needed to sate her thirst. If she was forced to wait too long them she would not even be able to formulate a plan...

Then, one night, Jesse did not visit them. Nor did he the next. The break in routine piqued her interest, especially with the growing anxiety Lena seemed to be exhibiting when she came down to see them. She lacked most of her peppy attitude, and she looked tired and on edge, her brown hair losing its normal spiky form as if she had not spared the time to style it.

On the third night, she asked something she had not before.

"Do you know if there are any other vampires round here? Or where they might be staying?"

Jamie glanced at Satya, uncertainty in his expression.

Satya just smiled. This was enough to confirm her suspicions, enough that she was confident in her assessment. "Jesse is missing, isn't he?" she said smoothly.

Lena huffed. "None of your business! I just asked a question."

Oh it was amusing to see her like this. How little it took to rile her.

"He has not returned and you cannot find him, so now you fear he may have run afoul of one of our friends? Is that more or less the situation?"

Lena glowered at her.

"The cowboy's missin'?" Jamie asked incredulously, using his favorite nickname for the hunter.

Lena pursed her lips, struggling as if fighting her response. "Fine!" she burst out eventually. " _Maybe_ he's missing. It doesn't matter. All I'm asking is if you know where any other vampires might be so I can look."

" _Ah_ ," Satya said smugly. "However, I do not see why you expect us to help you."

Lena gaped at her. She pointed a finger, looking as if she was about to shoot off a torrent of furious cockney, however Satya cut her off before she had the chance.

"Why would we do such a thing for free?"

That visibly stalled her. Lena's finger drooped, her retort dying off as she sat back thoughtfully.

"I can't let you out," she said, "you've gotta know that."

"Of course," Satya said, "I would not waste my time asking you to. All I am suggesting is a favor."

Jamie looked as if he very much wanted to speak, vibrating with the strain of holding it in, but he must have sensed the importance of this because he did not interject.

The girl eyed Satya suspiciously. "What do you want?"

Satya pretended to consider her request carefully. "His arm," she said, gesturing across to Jamie, "do you still have it?"

"I... think so, yeah, somewhere around the place," Lena said. She squinted. "That's all?"

Satya shrugged. "If that is not agreeable then by all means, leave, I have no obligation to make any kind of deal at all."

Lena scrunched her face up. "Alright, alright, it's a deal. I'll get it, just... you just stay here."

She scrambled to her feet and bounded up the stairs, and moments later she came racing back with a familiar mechanical arm clutched to her chest. She moved as if she were about to pass it over, then seemed to think twice and backed away again. Crouching down she slid the arm across the floor where it bumped against the bars.

Oh well, Satya supposed it was too much to hope that the girl would hand it over personally when it would put her within reaching distance.

She carefully took a hold of it and pulled it through to their side, before passing it to Jamie. He took it immediately, slotting the prosthesis back onto his stump and doing it up with eagerly fumbling fingers.

"So," Lena said, a little breathless after her dash, "now it's your half."

Satya rattled of a hotel address and Lena didn't even spare the time to that her before she was gone.

Jamie flexed his mechanical fingers, readjusting to the limb. He looked up at Satya, his gaze puzzled.

"Ya give her a fake address?"

"No," Satya said, combing her own fingers through her dark hair. "That is the last address I was aware of for the Countess."

Jamie's amber eyes widened at that. "Blimey... ya hate her that much?"

"Not really, I am simply making a wager."

"And what'd that be?"

"That our Countess is more than capable of taking care of a young, inexperienced, and somewhat desperate hunter," Satya told him. "She would not have survived this long were she not. If a hunter were to visit her it's possible she may be curious as to where they came from... it is a small chance, but better than nothing. Besides, if the Countess were to perish I do not think I would shed any tears, she led them here after all."

"That's cold," he said.

"It is logical."

"What about this?" he asked, tapping his metal arm.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean... if ya only wanted to send her to the Countess, why ask for this?"

"Well, you wanted it back, did you not?" she said plainly.

He did not seem sure how to answer that. He looked down, staring at his arm, still moving the digits as if to assure himself that they were real. He appeared to be thinking something over. Then he cleared his throat, and his voice was perfectly sober. "Thanks. I really mean that."

"Think nothing of it," Satya said with an idle flick of her hand. His response was touching though.

As morning came yet again they curled up together, and Satya rested her head on his chest once more, his presence reassuring to her. He must feel the same to some degree, because she could think of no other reason for him to indulge this. It was simply the only comfort they could find here.


	17. Chapter 17

There was always a twinge of disappointment as consciousness roared back and he found himself in the basement yet again, as if some part of him still clung to the hope it might all have been a terrible dream. That this time, he'd be back in his room, and Mako would be waiting for them to rise.

But he didn't dream anymore, and the sight that awaited him each night never wavered.

Satya was the only consolation. She'd taken to curling up against him when the dawn was nearing, her head resting on his chest, and when the night came back she'd lie there for a few minutes in silence.

He wanted it to last. He wanted to ask her things, to run his finger through her hair and pull her yet closer still, to hold her tight cos she seemed like the only tangible thing in this place and he didn't know what he'd do if he was left here alone.

Maybe she felt the same, there had to be a reason she acted like she did. But Satya was confusing at the best of times, and he didn't think now was the right time to pressure her for any kind of response.

Instead, he just lay there equally as quiet and let himself drink up any comfort he could from the contact, for as long as she would allow.

She felt colder that she had a few nights ago, the warm brown of her skin dulling to a familiar greyish tone, and he knew enough now to understand what that meant.

They both understood the grimness of their situation.

Inevitably Satya sat up, shifting away as she began her usual routine of brushing her hair as best she could without a comb.

Jamie grumbled, hauling himself up as well. "So, what's the plan for tonight, eh? Up for I-spy again? Or ya more in the mood for truth or dare? Karaoke? Take ya pick, I'm game."

She continued to trail her fingers through her locks at a leisurely pace, shifting slightly so she could fix him with a level stare. "Have I ever given you the impression that I am in the mood for such trivial pastimes?"

Jamie just grinned and shrugged. "Never can tell," he said, stretching out his limbs and rolling his shoulders, though his body never seemed to need it as much as it had used to. Lying on a concrete floor wouldn't necessarily have been new to him, but it would have done hell to his back as a human. "Gotta pass the time somehow."

"If we are fortunate our time here will not be much longer, provided the little hunter pays off."

"Think it'll work?" he asked.

"I think we will have to wait and see," she said, eyes drifting to the stairs. He could not read her expression. "I would not call the Countess reliable... but, she would enjoy the opportunity to gloat if she knew we were here, and she toys with her prey long enough it is likely she would find out... provided the hunter was not exceptionally lucky... and provided she has not moved."

Jamie frowned, scraping his foot across the ground absently. He remembered Lena's cheeky smile, her laughter, the way she would sit cross legged on the other side of the bars and chatter away as if they weren't somehow mortal enemies and just a pair of friends in unfortunate circumstances. He'd only known the girl a few days but he'd liked her well enough.

He knew... he knew in some way that this was always how it had to be, hunters killed vampires and vampires killed people... it still felt odd to him though, sending her off in the hopes she'd fall victim to the Countess's clutches. Still felt odd to him to remember that he _was_ a vampire...

Hunters had to know what they were getting into, right? Had to know the risks? Surely they'd chosen their life and not had their reality upended in a night like he had? So it wasn't like it was unfair, not really...

"We will get out of here, Jamie," Satya said, apparently misinterpreting his silence. She placed her hand gently against his collar, thumb brushing softly against the skin before she pulled back. "I promised you that before and nothing has changed."

He wished that hand would return. As chilled as her flesh might be her touch had been tender, reassuring, and he coveted those moments when she touched him so. All too quickly she would return to her usual composed and proper self as if nothing had happened, and he couldn't understand her behavior.

Allowing his own hand to linger where her fingers had trailed he met her gaze. "And if ya wrong? If the Countess don't show?"

"Then we will simply have to devise another solution," she replied firmly. Jamie wished he knew what that might be.

* * *

There was no Lena to visit them this night. Without her company to look forward to there was very little to fill the time besides his own voice.

As the hours ran by, and Saya grew increasingly less responsive to his chatter, a cold certainty seemed to settle across them. The Countess would not be coming.

Satya shifted close to him, and he wrapped his arm around her instinctively. He couldn't feel the dawn yet, but she didn't seem to care. Jamie didn't think he did either.

There was very little of the night left and all it had given them was disappointment.

"I must apologize," she said softly, "It appears I may have miscalculated."

Jamie scoffed at that. "Told ya before, ya ain't got no reason to be appologisin'. Besides, we've still got plenty of time, and I ain't about to give up just yet."

Satya was quiet for a moment, but when he glanced across at her he thought he caught the faintest trace of a smile. It was small, and fleeting, but he did not think he had imagined it. "Then I hope that your optimism is not misplaced."

Again, they lapsed into silence, and he could feel the weight of her resting against him, reassuring in its solidity. Her hands lay in her lap, palms up while she studied them. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking... why her gaze seemed so troubled...

"Tell me about yourself?" he asked instead, tone light and easy despite them melancholy that seemed determined to wrap itself around them both.

Satya tilted her head to look at him quizzically. "Hmmm?"

"Tell me somethin', anything ya like," he said again with a grin, "been a while now and I still don't know much about ya, 'sides from the whole vampire thing. Ya like buildings an' sculptures an' showers, but tell me somethin' I don't know. Tell me where ya from."

She was still, but Jamie knew her well enough by now to recognize it as thoughtful. Satya had no problem scolding him if she were upset, and when she chose to ignore him she was careful that he knew it. Now, her golden eyes were distant, expression lost.

"I suppose... it would be unfair to tell you nothing, given what you have endured on my part."

"It ain't about bein' fair, I just... I just wanna know about you," he said.

For a while, she said nothing. Then her head settled against his shoulder, startling him. The moment he realized what it was he relaxed, the tension oozing from his body as he let her rest against him.

"I was born in Kolkata, in India, a little over a century ago. I was... no one of importance, simply unfortunate enough to cross paths with the one who made me," she recounted. "He shut me in a box so that the sun would not find me, and when I came back to myself it was locked. The second night, I broke myself out, though whatever happened to my sire I do not know. I was alone. I did not understand what I was, or what I should do, I simply followed my instincts and fed as I needed."

Here she drew a pause, and Jamie had to fight down the urge to fill it. Something about the way she spoke made it feel private, and he knew that if he dared to interrupt now with some stupid joke he risked her closing off entirely, withdrawing again.

His patience paid off and eventually she chose her words. "It was not long before a hunter found me. I lost my arm to a blessed silver blade, and would have likely lost far more if it were not for Sanjay... he saved me, sheltered me. Lead me to Vishkar."

"Who are Vishkar?" he risked, in a hushed voice.

"A coven, a group of vampires," she said distractedly. "They took me in, taught me, gave me a home, made me feel special. They spoke of order in the chaos of this world, and I thought for a while that we shared a belief, a goal, and I would give anything to be a part of it..."

She sighed, and he felt her tense slightly.

"After many years though I finally came to realize that I was wrong. Vishkar do not seek to create order, they seek to subjugate... they would have humans as cattle, their utopia is a world I do not wish to see brought to light. We have our role, and humans have theirs, and that balance of power is true symmetry, the closest thing to order the world is truly capable of. I'll shed no tears for them – predator and prey is nature. Nor will they cry for us, the monsters that lurk in the shadows... but we each have our place, and that is as it should be. Vishkar would undo that."

"So you left them?"

She nodded. "Yes. It hurt to do. I trusted them, I... I trusted Sanjay, but the more I understood them the more I came to realize they never truly cared for me, only what I could accomplish for them. I was never more than a tool." Her lips gave a bitter twist, and her hands clasped together tightly in her lap. "I was naive enough that I did not see it at first."

Satya sat up abruptly, breaking the contact between them. He let her go, let her take her space as she stared at the pristine white of her prosthetic arm. Her fingers continued to trace the paneling, running over the contours as if trying to decipher a problem he couldn't see.

There was something he did understand though. Something achingly familiar in her words. He fidgeted for a hesitant second, picking at the hole in his jeans and eyes cast downward.

"It's easy though, ain't it," he said, "to fall in with folks when they give ya something to belong to, make ya feel like you're important... and they seem powerful and ya wanna be like that too cos you think maybe then you won't have to be frightened anymore... it's only later ya realize you were always expendable to 'em."

Satya's attention snapped back to him, and there was something new about the way she looked at him this time. Something contemplative. "Yes... you sound as if you speak from experience."

Yeah, Jamie thought, she'd hit the nail on the head with that one.

"I've fallen in with a few unsavory sorts," he said vaguely. "But enough about that, are ya tellin' me there's a secret group of vamps out there lookin' to overtake the world or some crap? For real?"

Whether she noticed the change of subject or not he couldn't tell, but she indulged him.

"Their end goal would be a society where there are no hunters, vampires are free to do as they please, and the human population is kept contained to be fed upon as required."

"Bloody hell," Jamie muttered, "That's insane..."

"I doubt their goal will be met any time soon, but with our kind, planning for the long term can encompass centuries, millennium even."

Jamie considered this. "The hunters are after these fuckers though?"

"Certainly," Satya agreed. "They are aware of Vishkar, and a number of those involved... enough to recognize me at any rate. The location of key members and their resting places would be very tantalizing information. Burning vampires during the day is considerably easier than trying to hunt a predator such as ourselves by night."

"And you could have told them?"

"If I had told them, they would have killed us, Jamie," she reminded him stiffly. "While Vishkar is of great concern to them, they will destroy any of our kind they stumble across, make no mistake. Besides, while I may hold a certain resentment toward Vishkar, I do not think I would happily sell them to the slaughter... I have cut my ties to them and I intend that to be the end of it."

He couldn't begrudge her the mournful note that lingered in her words. Vishkar was... well, _hooley dooley_ , it was the very definition of evil as far as Jamie was concerned, but Satya he thought he understood. For all her distaste for them, they had been the ones to guide her forward when she was lost, and things like that were hard to forget.

"Well... ain't like it matters now, both _our_ hunters have fucked off," Jamie said cheerily, then hesitated. "Do ya think Lena found her? The Countess?"

Satya seemed to draw herself back, looking ponderous for a moment. "I think she would have returned had my information lead her nowhere, or her task was accomplished. Yes, I believe she found her."

"But the Countess isn't coming is she?"

"No," Satya said softly. "I do not think she will be."

* * *

Daybreak drew ever closer, itching at the edge of his senses. Another night spent in captivity, and the promise of another to come.

He felt out of his depth in a way. But Jamie had never really done much more than saunter through his life, taking whatever came his way. You had to roll with the punches.

Sometimes those punches were your arm getting chopped off and a sexy vampire lady turning you into one of her own. _That_ he could deal with. It was the stillness of the situation now that ate at him. Idleness was not in his nature, and he longed for, craved, the chance to stretch his legs or find something to build or break or _burn_... not sit in an empty cage and wait.

He sprawled out on the floor with a sense of reassignment. Satya soon settled beside him, smoothing her dress out before she too lay down, head pillowed against his chest.

Could she hear his heartbeat? How slow was it now? Would she listen as the dawn stole it away, each beat growing further from the last?

"Ya don't smell like flowers anymore," he murmured absently.

Satya sat up in one sharp motion. "If you are going to be rude I will find my own spot on the floor to be dead."

"No, that's not what I-" he gabbled, instantly cursing himself for sticking his foot in his mouth. "Wasn't tryin' to insult you or nothing, I just... shit, it's a vampire thing ain't it? Can't help noticing smells... to be honest with ya I prefer it this way, flowers always seemed a bit strong to me."

He grinned at her in what he hoped was an apologetic manner, and something must have worked because after staring him down she sighed, and curled up by his side once again.

"If you are attempting to compliment me you are atrocious at it," she said, and Jamie couldn't help but agree. At least she didn't seem to mind too bad.

"Could think of other ways to complement ya if ya like."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah... anyone ever tell ya you ain't too hard on the eyes?"

"Truly atrocious," she said again, but there was an underlying amusement to her scolding, and Jamie allowed himself a giggle. As cold as his body was these days she always filled him with an odd kind of warmth.

He was about to say something to that effect what a sound distracted him. The sound of footsteps.

Satya must have caught it too because her head whipped up, and the pair of them were upright in the blink of an eye. Jamie forgot how fast they could move sometimes.

"It's not the hunters," she told him, head cocked at an angle as she listened, "nor the Countess..."

As he concentrated on the heavy tread Jamie's eyes widened. There was something familiar about them.

The footsteps drew to a close. The door opened. The light flicked on.

"Mako!" Jamie cried, barely keeping himself from pressing up against the bars in an effort to close the distance. He vibrated in front of them, his grin feeling as if it would split his face in two. "Knew ya was alright, mate! Knew them tossers couldn't keep ya down! Been waitin' bloody ages, how'd ya find us?"

Mako grunted, and only Jame could read the relief on his face. "Didn't. Someone told me."

"Who, the Countess?"

"Dunno." He paused for a second. "You telling me there's actually vampire counts out there?"

Jamie laughed despite himself. "Nah, think it's just a nickname. Look, ya can tell us both later, ya got a key or somethin' to get us out of here?"

"I can look." He studied Jamie for a moment, apparently satisfied with his condition. "You stay put."

"Oh _ha bloody ha_ , mate! You're a riot!" Jamie called after him as Mako turned turned away, heading back the way he'd come.

Still, Jamie's grin lingered, and when he sat down he felt lighter than he had in a long time. Unfortunately Satya did not seem to share his mood.

She was tense, he body a straight line and the gold of her eyes narrowed to a calculating stare as she watched the empty doorway.

"Oi," Jamie prompted, snagging her attention. "What's that look for? We're finally getting' out of this dump!"

She pursed her lips. "It will depend on how long it takes, but if he truly does release us from this thing soon I should still have enough strength to dispatch him."

"What? The fuck ya talkin' about?" he asked incredulously.

" _Think_ , Jamie," she hissed. "The sunlight is minutes away. Do you understand that? Very soon we will be entirely helpless, and the last time that happened in his company we ended up _here_."

"But... but that ain't his fault!"

Satya, though, did not lose her resolve. Her chin was tilted high in defiance, no hint of sympathy in her gaze. "How can you be so sure?"

Jamie found his hands clenched into fists. "We are _not_ killin' my mate, okay! Hell, I can't believe I have to explain' that to ya!"

He took a breath, more to calm himself than out of any real need. He had to make her to understand. He needed her to... but he didn't think he could impress upon her every time Mako had failed to let him down, to kick him to the curb like everyone else in his life. Of all the times he'd stuck up for him when no one else had. That wasn't Satya's life, and he could tell her all of it but it still wouldn't be hers, she wouldn't feel it the way he did.

Running a hand through his hair he tried again. "Look, if ya don't trust him I get it... ya only met the bloke once, but can ya at least trust me on this? Ya _do_ trust me, right?"

Her eyes flickered away. "I trust you, but not necessarily your judgement."

"Satya..."

It took her longer than he would have liked to respond.

"Very well," she said cooly, "I shall not harm him, but I hope for both our sakes that it is not a mistake."

"It won't be," he promised.

When Mako returned with a jangle of keys they were both waiting impatiently, acutely aware of the nearing dawn.

"You claimed someone directed you here," Satya said as he struggled with the lock. "May I inquire as to what the looked like?"

Mako shrugged. "Some lady, didn't see much. Wore a hood. Ends of her hair were purple."

"Not the Countess then... curious..."

The door sprang open and Jamie scrambled out, stretching to his full height and throwing both arms wide to enjoy the sudden space. "Whoever the fuck it was we owe 'em one. And you too of course," he added, giving Mako's shoulder a friendly pat. "Glad you're okay. Wasn't sure what happened after... well, after wakin' up here."

"Tell you later."

"Right..." he said, trying to smile but finding the expression slower to take than he would have liked. In fact, most things were getting a little slow, and he realized to his horror that time was a lot shorter than he'd thought.

"Shit," he muttered, scowling as he tried to focus his thoughts. "There probably ain't gonna be a later for a while, mate... think... think the sun's comin' up. Ya got some way to get us out?"

Mako thought for a moment. "No, but I can get something. This gonna be like last time?"

"Yeah, probably, t-tends to-" Abruptly Jamie's legs gave out, and he found himself on the floor. "Ah fuck..."

Dazed, he glanced across to find Satya had already laid herself down, hands folded over her middle. Trust her to avoid an embarrassing fall.

"You alright?" Mako's voice asked distantly, and he tried to nod.

"Yeah... just... g-gonna be dead... for a bit..."

He tried to reach out toward her with his remaining strength, but either the dawn was too swift, or she ignored the offer, the world slipped away too fast for him to tell. All he could be sure of was that this time there was no one clasping back.

* * *

 _((Been a while, hasn't it?))_


End file.
